Thailand declares state of emergency: red shirt leader shot

Rallies were held outside the headquarters of the Royal Thai Police, and the temporary office for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, where there was a heavy security presence.

The government announced the state of emergency late on Tuesday in the wake of a string of attacks that have mostly been aimed at demonstrators protesting peacefully in Bangkok.

State of emergency

“The decree is meant to be a deterrent. In no way shall there be the use of force and utmost restraint will continue to be the order of the day with regard to the way we deal with the protest,” said Sihasak Phuangketkeow, the foreign ministry’s permanent secretary, during a news conference.

“There is no curfew, no curfew is being planned, nor limitations on freedom of movement,” he added.

Bangkok appeared normal and people went about their business as usual on Tuesday. Police did not try to break up the protests, including one outside a complex where Ms Yingluck was working.

‘Red shirt’ leader

But highlighting the risk of the political deadlock turning violent, leader of the “red shirt” Rak Udorn Group, Kwanchai Praipana, was wounded in the arm and leg in a drive-by shooting at his home in the northeastern town of Udon Thani.

Police said they believed it was politically motivated.

“From the way the assailants fired, they obviously didn’t want him to live,” his wife, Arporn Sarakham, said. Police said they had found 39 bullet cases at the house.

Mr Praipana leads thousands of pro-government supporters in Udon Thani province.

On Tuesday, he told Reuters that if the military attempted a coup, “I can assure you, on behalf of the 20 provinces in the northeast, that we will fight. The country will be set alight if the soldiers come out.”

So far the military, which has been involved in 18 actual or attempted coups in the past 81 years, has kept out of the fray. The police are charged with imposing the state of emergency, under orders from Ms Yingluck to treat protesters against her government with patience.

Paul Chambers, director of research at the Institute of South East Asian Affairs in Chiang Mai, said the emergency decree was designed largely to give Ms Yingluck legal protection if there is violence and the police step in.

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Human rights

Nine people have died and dozens have been wounded in violence, including two grenade attacks in the capital over the weekend, since protesters took to the streets in November to demand Ms Yingluck step down and a “people’s council” be set up to bring sweeping reforms to Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy.

But New-York based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticised the move and says the government did not have the right to impose such a decree.

“The attacks are small scale, targeting protesters, not the public entirely, so the government doesn’t have legitimate justification to upgrade security situation to state of emergency, which allows authorities to operate with impunity, ” said Sunai Phasuk an activst from HRW.

Although the government says the current state of emergency will not limit freedom of movement, the decree gives police expanded powers to make arrests, conduct searches and seize suspicious materials and will remain in effect for 60 days.

The last time an emergency decree was invoked in Bangkok was when pro-Thaksin “red shirt” activists staged their own protests against a Democrat-led government in 2010.

The protests are the latest episode in an eight-year political conflict that pits Bangkok’s middle class and royalist establishment against the mainly poorer supporters of Ms Yingluck and her brother, ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled by the military in 2006.

Ms Yingluck has called an election for 2 February, which she will almost certainly win and which the opposition plans to boycott.