Bangkok: charges of “conspiracy’” against riot leaders dropped
The court’s decision could lead rioters to surrender as they had pledged to do, but it will not offer a long-term solution to the political and social crisis that has racked the country for the past few weeks.
Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, who has come under heavy criticism from the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and which is demanding his resignation, has announced the government would investigate the violence and bring the culprits to justice.
PAD leaders and law enforcement agencies accused each other for the violence and the deaths. One of the victims, university student Angkana Radubpanyavuth, died on her way to the hospital after she suffered serious injuries to her lungs, stomach and ribs. According to Vichan Beawnim, a forensic medicine expert, teargas canisters would not cause such damage to the body.
The clashes of the last few weeks have raised the level of tension across the country. Everyone is getting jitterier, which is poisoning the atmosphere. In one case a pilot told three members of the ruling People’s Power Party of PM Somchai to get off his plane because their presence upset “the psychological balance” of other passengers.
Doctors in one hospital in the capital refused to treat policemen wounded in the clashes or forced them to remove their uniforms before letting them in.
This is a clear signal to the government, urged by medical groups to “reconsider its action” which is causing “suffering to the victims and their families.”
Sunee Chairos, a member of National Human Right Commission, said that “violence is not the right path to solving problems.” It is necessary “to allow people to freely express their ideas by participating in the democratic process.”
Juree Wijitwatakarn, secretary general of the Transparency International Organisation, said that Thailand ranked “80th out of 180 countries on the world corruption scale” in the public sector, which has reduced “trust in the institutions and affected the country’s good name.”
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