The government lifts emergency rule in five provinces because the crisis there is over. Businesses and human rights groups criticise the move for being too restrictive. Under emergency legislation, 400 people were detained. The International Crisis Group calls for peaceful elections.

Bangkok (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The Thai government has extended the state of emergency imposed on 7 April in 18 provinces, plus metro Bangkok, in order to “ensure peace, order and stability”. This comes after the country endured clashes between March and May that pitted red-shirt protesters against the army and police.  However, the businesses and human rights groups have criticised the decision, calling instead on the government to lift its emergency legislation, which has undermined the confidence of foreign investors and scared away tourists.  

Until now, the capital and 23 provinces out of 76 had been placed under a state of emergency. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his government lifted it only in five provinces—Si Sa Ket, Kalasin, Nan, Nakhon Sawan and Nakhon Pathos—after the National Security Council (NSC) declared the situation in these provinces resolved. However, the authorities have not excluded reintroducing the state of emergency if the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), an opposition umbrella group close to exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, should renew anti-government activities.

Even so, not everyone in the cabinet was in favour of even a partial lifting of the state emergency. Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban and his allies wanted it to remain in place in all 23 provinces, plus the capital.  The Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES), the government's hard-line crisis control group that is made up mostly of military and police, remains opposed to any softer line towards the red shirts.

In a BBC interview, Prime Minister Abhisit said he backed a gradual lifting of emergency laws, starting in areas where calm was already completely restored.

Anti-government protests had begun in March and lasted two months. At their height, they paralysed the capital’s financial district. The military was eventually ordered in following public criticism of the government’s failure to negotiate its way out of the situation.

Violence followed as the more radical fringes of the protest movement clashed with soldiers, leaving 90 people dead and almost 2,000 wounded.

Hundreds of people were also detained (400 according to opposition sources) without a proper arrest warrant in some cases, on the basis of emergency legislation, which allows up to 30-day detention without charges.

Despite the easing of restrictions, the country’s business community and human rights groups remain concerned about the political situation. Investors have fled or stayed away because of the violence and instability. Tourists have decided not to come in large numbers.

Calls by international associations for a complete return to normality have also fallen on deaf years. In a recent report, the International Crisis Group (ICG) urged the government to lift the state of emergency, warning that the “legitimate frustrations" of the anti-government movement were "being forced underground and possibly towards illegal and violent actions".

In article published in the Bangkok Post, Jim Della-Giacoma, ICG Project director for Southeast Asia, offered a number of suggestions to solve the impasse. In his opinion, the government should lift emergency rule in all provinces, restore the political rights of all red-shirt protesters, end the demonisation of the opposition and set up an honest and fair investigation into the violence that broke out in April and May so that light can be shed on what happen and determine responsibilities.

This, Della-Giacoma said, should “start a new chapter and build a new political consensus” that can create “the conditions for peaceful elections”.

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