The government made a last-minute decision yesterday to cancel a plan to impose a curfew on certain parts of Bangkok, gambling on hope that the spiralling violence - with the casualty toll already bigger than the official toll for the 'Black May' crisis in 1992 - could soon be put under control.
The decision was made after the government concluded that the adverse impact on people's livelihood would outweigh the benefits of isolating the agitators, assistant Army chief of staff Lt Gen Aksara Kerdpol said yesterday.
"It is deemed unnecessary to impose a curfew at this juncture as the situation remains under control," he said.
CURFEW OPTION OPEN
However, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was said to want to keep the curfew option open. "If the situation worsens in the next two days, a curfew may be imposed," a high-ranking source said.
Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said he was concerned that a curfew might cause inconvenience to commerce and the public.
Concern over a curfew spread after Abhisit in his weekly speech yesterday morning hinted at restricting people's movements in order to isolate the Rajprasong rally site.
Just hours after Abhisit spoke up, red-shirt leader Natthawut Saikua said the protesters were free to leave the rally site if they were worried about a curfew.
"The red-shirt guards will not try to ask you to stay," Natthawut announced.
WOMEN, CHILDREN, ELDERLY LEAVE
The red shirts yesterday also agreed to a government initiative to allow women, children and elderly who want to go to leave Rajprasong.The group allowed "vulnerable" protesters to move to Wat Pathumwanaram, which is located near the rally site between Siam Paragon and Central World.
Natthawut said the red-shirt leaders did not want to be seen as using people as human shields.
As of press time, about 1,000 children and women had taken shelter in Wat Pathumwanaram. "We are going to send a team to help take care of the demonstrators inside the temple," Wallop Tangkhananurak, a prominent child-rights activist, said.
He said the team would have about 20 members and they would ensure that only women and children were allowed to stay in the temple compound.
"For male demonstrators, they can come in only if they are old," Wallop said.
According to the Network for Helping Demonstrators Return Home, no one called the network for help. "The callers just asked if we could help them enter the rally site," the network's co-ordinator said. She only gave her first name, Worawadee.
Security officials have set up many checkpoints near the Rajprasong Intersection in a bid to prevent more people from joining the rally. The move, however, has also led to bloody clashes.
In the past few days, at least 29 have died and over 200 injured.
FREE TRANSPORT
Through a co-ordinated effort by the Social Development and Human Security Ministry, non-government organisations and the Red Cross, protesters - particularly women, children and the elderly - are free to leave the rally site till 3pm tomorrow. Relevant authorities insisted that those who did so would be safe. They can also get free transport to travel back to their hometowns.
Armed guards could also leave the rally if they agree to disarm.
The government has arranged for medical services, basic necessities and transport to be made available to the red shirts if they volunteer to disperse.