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BANGKOK - Thailand's premier said Thursday he would end emergency rule in six provinces but maintain the strict laws in Bangkok, where a weekend bomb blast rekindled tensions in the wake of deadly street protests.
The emergency decree, which bans public gatherings of more than five people and gives security forces the right to detain suspects for 30 days without charge, will remain in place in 10 provinces, out of a total of 76.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said he would revoke the emergency laws in Chonburi, Ayutthaya, Nong Bua Lam Phu, Maha Sarakham, Mukdahan and Chaiyaphum in central and northeastern Thailand on the advice of security officials.
Abhisit has pledged to roll back the state of emergency gradually, saying it is still needed in the capital after a weekend bomb attack at a Bangkok bus stop killed one person and wounded 10.
Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon told AFP on Thursday that security officials were confident they could handle the situation in the areas where the state of emergency has been lifted.
"All of the state security agencies... said there is little political movement in these provinces," he said.
The government has come under pressure from the United States and rights groups to end emergency rule to help the country recover from deadly civil unrest that has left it deeply divided.
Authorities have used the powers -- introduced in Bangkok on April 7 -- to arrest hundreds of Red Shirt suspects and silence anti-government media.
The protests by the Reds, many of whom back fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, attracted up to 100,000 people demanding immediate elections but were crushed by the army in a bloody crackdown in May.
About 90 people died and some 1,900 were injured in a series of street clashes between armed troops and demonstrators.
Critics say the government may in effect be fanning the crisis as it clamps down and censors the protest movement rather than addressing its grievances.
A separate state of emergency has been in place since 2005 in three Muslim-majority southern provinces where a separatist insurgency has left more than 4,100 people dead in six years, with no end in sight to the violence.
- AFP /ls
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