BANGKOK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd October, 2020) Thailand's authorities on Thursday lifted a state of emergency, which was declared in the Thai capital of Bangkok in response to a new wave of mass anti-government protests, a decree published in The Royal Thai Government Gazette said.
On Wednesday protesters marched to the Government House in Bangkok, demanding that Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who came to power after a coup in 2014, must resign. The powerful protest movement, which had been gaining momentum since February, turned out to be a serious challenge to the government and forced the prime minister to lift a state of emergency to ease tensions.
"The events, which caused the imposition of a state of emergency in Bangkok, are no longer of extraordinary nature and the situation has started to normalize, that is why a state of emergency in Bangkok will terminate at 05:00 GMT on October 22, 2020," the decree said.
The demonstrations were ignited back in February when the constitutional court banned opposition party Future Forward, which was popular among students. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and imposition of a lockdown in early April have slowed down the wave of protests.
However, the pandemic has also affected the economic situation in the country and deepened public resentment with the authorities. The protesters demanded political reforms, namely the revision of the monarch's immunity from prosecution, and called on the prime minister, who had been the chief of the Thai army before the 2014 coup, to step down.
The escalation of the protest movement in Bangkok forced the Thai government in mid-October to impose a state of emergency in the capital, initially set to last until November 13.
