Thai PM calls on demonstrators to disperse, amnesty bill dropped

BANGKOK, November 7 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has called on demonstrators to disperse, as all six draft amnesty bills have already been withdrawn, including the most controversial one passed by the House of Representatives last week. Speaking at a press conference at Bangkok's Government House on Thursday afternoon, Yingluck announced that the six draft amnesty bills-related to national reconciliation have already been withdrawn from the Parliament. The prime minister asked street demonstrators to, thus, end their protests and trust her government, saying that her administration does not want to see any prolonged demonstration which may have negative impacts, including those on confidence in the Thai economy among international investors, and that her government is ready to talk and listen to proposals. The prime minister confirmed that her government will not use any force against demonstrators, but asking them not to approach areas at risk to avoid any untoward incident by an ill-intentioned third party. The prime minister also insisted that she will never do anything bothering His Majesty the King, implying that her government will not forward the controversial amnesty bill for His Majesty the King's endorsement. Earlier in the day, Deputy House Speaker Charoen Chankomol had a meeting with proposers of all the six draft amnesty bills, including General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, a former army chief who led Thailand's coup d’etat in September 2006 to topple the six-year-elected Thaksin administration and who is now the leader of the Matubhum Party, to ask them to withdraw their bills from the House. Charoen later told journalists that the proposers of the six draft amnesty bill agreed to withdraw for the sake of national peace. Meanwhile, Senate Speaker Nikhom Wairatpanich announced at an informal meeting of the Senate on Thursday afternoon that he has decided to exercise his authority as the Senate speaker under Item 15 of the Senate's regulations to re-schedule a Senate session to deliberate the amnesty bill, passed by the Lower House last week, from November 11 to November 8, starting from 2pm. Besides, the Senate speaker acknowledged, he does not want the Upper House's consideration of the amnesty bill to fall on the same day when the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruleson a Thai-Cambodian territorial dispute case in order to prevent unrest. Leading Thai senators have announced their joint stance to vote against the controversial amnesty bill. (TNA)