A protester against a government-backed amnesty bill gestures during a rally at the Democracy Monument in central Bangkok yesterday.
Calls by Thailand’s opposition for a general strike yesterday against a controversial amnesty bill appeared to go unheeded after the senate rejected the legislation.
The opposition Democrat Party had proposed the nationwide stoppage as part of its campaign against the bill, which critics say was aimed at allowing divisive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra to return home from self-exile.
Around 50,000 people demonstrated against the amnesty bill in Bangkok late Monday, but a senate vote that night rejected the proposal and rallies have since dwindled. Police estimated that around 1,600 people had gathered at the main opposition protest site in central Bangkok by yesterday afternoon. Some 800 demonstrators were thought to be at two other rally areas nearby.
“We think that they were regular protesters, not people joining the strike campaign,” national police spokesman Piya Utayo said.