Cabinet not yet consider lifting emergency decree

NAKHON PATHOM, THAILAND, March 11 (TNA) - The executive decree on public administration in emergency situations has been maintained in all areas in Bangkok and some areas in peripheral provinces, as the Cabinet, at its weekly meeting on Tuesday, did not consider the extension or the end of the emergency decree. National Police Chief Police General Adul Saengsingkaew told journalists before the Cabinet meeting, held at the Royal Police Cadet Academy in Nakhon Pathom Province next to Bangkok, that he would not propose the Cabinet to consider extending or ending the imposition of the executive decree on public administration in emergency situations to cope with anti-government protests in Bangkok and adjacent provinces although the 60-day special law expires on March 23, 2014. The national police chief said the caretaker government-run Center for Maintaining Peace and Order (CMPO) would assess the updated situation and then submit its proposal on the emergency decree to the Cabinet next week. Caretaker Tourism and Sports Minister Somsak Phurisrisak assessed if the emergency decree imposition stopped, tourism in Thailand would recover, acknowledging that the daily number of international visitors to Thailand has dropped to 45,000 over the past two months, compared with 70,000 daily last year. Before the Cabinet meeting, Caretaker Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra visited police officers injured in previous clashes with anti-government protesters. Meanwhile, at least one person was injured in an explosion at Lumpini public park, now the main rally site of the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), on early Tuesday morning. According to the Erawan Medical Centre under the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), the explosion occurred near Gate 4 of Lumpini public park about 5:20am near the PDRC protest site, injuring a 34-year-old man who was reportedly hit by shrapnel on both arms and taken to nearby Chulalongkorn Hospital. Updated reports said that the man was safe but he was remains under observation at the hospital. A few more people were slightly injured but they were not taken to the hospital. On Monday night, there was also an explosion near the Lotus superstore on Chaeng Wattana Road, at around 10:30pm, also near a PDRC rally site, but there were no reports of casualties. (TNA)