Thai Authorities Lift Curfew Imposed After Deadly Unrest: PM

[webfact]

Thai authorities lift curfew imposed after deadly unrest: PM

BANGKOK (AFP) -- Thailand's authorities have lifted a night-time curfew imposed 10 days earlier in Bangkok and 23 provinces after deadly anti-government protests, the prime minister said Saturday.

"The curfew will be lifted but the state of emergency will remain in place," Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters.

He said security officials had proposed ending the measure "as the situation is under control."

The curfew was imposed on May 19 after enraged protesters went on a rampage of arson following an army crackdown on their mass rally, which descended into several outbreaks of violence that left 88 people dead since mid-March.

-- ©Copyright AFP 2010-05-29

Published with written approval from AFP.

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[webfact]

Did the curfew had any major impact on your daily life?

NO POLITICS IN THIS TOPIC

we are discussing the curfew impact on your life, not the politics behind it!

Thank you

[JetsetBkk]

The lifting of the curfew has probably prevented a lot of blue balls.

[gotlost]

Party time.

[ScouseTommy]

School got cancelled and my social life took a serious battering, but other than that it didnt affect me!!!

[givenall]

How about the state of emergencies. is that also lifted.

I hope not for a while to control the movements of protesters

[phuketrichard]

seeing as i live in Phuket didnt affect me at all

[julemanden]

No none what so ever

[Steele404]

yeah, it adjusted my sleeping habits

got all my family and my GF together in one roof in front of the TV eating dinner

never before I've seen soo many people online on MSN at the same time

and slept peacefully for once without the drunk farangs yelling and singing in front of my condo

so fck yeah, i'd propose curfews every weekdays

[AndersSN]

I own a bar, didn't make anyu money for those 10 days

[pontius]

Not a bit. (Currently dry, hehe).

[alstaxi]

"The curfew will be lifted but the state of emergency will remain in place," Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters.

[chalvy]

I arrived in Chiang Mai just in time for the army to storm the red camp in BKK. I had a feeling that things weren't going to be very nice after that so decided to stay in my hotel rather than hit the town. I quickly ran out of beer and cigarettes so decided to venture out to find a 7-Eleven. Walked east along Thapae Rd at the same time a local group of about 30-40 agitated and pissed off Reds entered the road on their bikes (7 - 8pm). Decided that wherever they were going it would be wise to go in the opposite direction so I decided to head down a small soi/lane and search for a little mom and pop shop to fulfil my needs. Had not walked more than 3 feet when small arms fire rang out from the direction I was walking. At first I thought it was firecrackers but they were too random and had different tones suggesting pistol and rifle fire. Instantly those Reds came speeding back from where they came in all sorts of bedlam, chaos and cursing! Suffice to say I didn't wait around and made a bee-line for my room and fortunately found a little store on the way.

The next day they imposed the curfew so I was again restricted to my room. I went to Loi Kroh for a wonderful lunch at the Chiang Mai Saloon which was pretty appropriate in hindsight because any minute I expected to see tumbleweeds rolling down the road, it was DEAD!

The next day I decided to cut my trip short and head down to Hua Hin for a week where no curfew was in force and most of the BKK rich and beautiful had also fled. In fact, you'd hardly know anything happened at all down there. No Army or Police presence and no worried or depressed shop-keepers and bar folk. In fact it was the opposite with traffic jams in the middle of the day!

RESULT?: For me, mild inconvenience. For Chiang Mai, the loss of a farang who was more than willing to inject a couple of grand into their local economy over the course of a week.

Sad times indeed.

[anon467367354]

It only way it affected me was not having buses after 8PM, I was very lucky to make it to the express boat just in time to catch the last one home. It will be nice to have it lifted, even if it didn't really affect me at all.

[Rumblecat]

How about the state of emergencies. is that also lifted.

I hope not for a while to control the movements of protesters

It's in the original post-

"The curfew will be lifted but the state of emergency will remain in place," Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters.

Glad to see it gone, not much fun going out when you've got a mandatory 'home time' placed over your head, plus getting taxis etc wasn't that easy. But mainly glad because the nearby 7-11 will return to it's 24 hours of goodness. Appreciate why there was a cufew though, and had no real problem with it.

[Randee]

YAY! Now I don't have to walk through a ghost town at 2am anymore. YAY! . . .

[montrii]

As a musician, I lost quite a bit of work, but some of it started much earlier, when the redshirts occupied all the territory around a club where I worked once a week. I know a lot of musicians, Thai and farang, who were put completely out of work by this. Some got laid off even though they worked at hotels far from the protest scene. Many fear their jobs will never come back. Aside from that, it was a big pain not to be able to go out after a certain time, especially with the curtailed hours for the SkyTrain and MRT.

Edited May 29, 2010 by montrii

[DocJohnnie99]

Apart from not being able to party all night and all day, none.

[grahamhc]

Party time.

They just moved Partytime to the daytime in Pattaya for our 2 day curfew, now back to normal.

Even on Curfew Night, there were still people wandering the streets.

In fact, on another Forum, people posted how they went driving round town to see how the curfew was effecting people.

However, there was one "Very Well Connected" Agogo Bar that decided to stay open, as the Police never closes it, but the SOLDIERS (or was it Navy) closed it down at 10:45pm.

The most remarkable thing was that all the 7-11 and Famaily Markets all closed !!!

Most people forget Thaksin's "Party Curfew", when all the bars had to close by 1:00am. But we survived that one as well.

[Randee]

yeah, it adjusted my sleeping habits

got all my family and my GF together in one roof in front of the TV eating dinner

never before I've seen soo many people online on MSN at the same time

and slept peacefully for once without the drunk farangs yelling and singing in front of my condo

so fck yeah, i'd propose curfews every weekdays

maybe you picked the wrong place to live?

[lazygourmet]

Oh yeah... Saving a lot of money by not going out so often.

And coming back home earlier, just to realize that I am living in great place...

[jaroulz]

Of course not because I never go out of my house.

Do u have any other stupid questions?

[fiercesnake]

What curfew? Oh gosh I'm so boring, I just went home after work and watched TV as usual, then went to sleep. No not really.

Only affected those farangs requiring refreshments of the amber kind and then needing some release of certain deep down tensions late in the evening! LOL

[jbhubbell]

Yes! I'm a doula (childbrith coach) & I had 2 women go into labor during curfew time. I could not get there to support them. I ended up staying up most of the night on the phone with one of them.

Both babies & moms are doing fine by the way!

[Randee]

Yes! I'm a doula (childbrith coach) & I had 2 women go into labor during curfew time. I could not get there to support them. I ended up staying up most of the night on the phone with one of them.

Both babies & moms are doing fine by the way!

That's great! So they didn't need you anyway!

[ozzieman05]

My friends in bangkok want the curfew to continue

why

The best dancers in the bar beers can usually get 2-3 short times every night

and after wards to the open air dinning tables on the streets, her they can pick up at least another 1 or 2

If your lucky to get a long time she wants off at 4m to do things at home, or go to work

Enter the curfew

They can not afford to be so fussy

Find a farang early or you will miss out

can not take the chance of getting short time on the street after hours

So she wants long time at a reasonable price

and she need to stay long time so no 4 am runners

Once the early morning comes she is in no hurry to get up as the bed is warm

Many beautiful ladies who have lost their jobs

So need a Farang boyfriend to help meet the expenses

Curfew

Farang never had it so good

Makes me wish I was still unattached

[ozzieman05]

Yes! I'm a doula (childbrith coach) & I had 2 women go into labor during curfew time. I could not get there to support them. I ended up staying up most of the night on the phone with one of them.

Both babies & moms are doing fine by the way!

Best Lie I have heard all day

we all know you can be on the streets if you have a good reason to be there

Many of my friends have been caught out during carefew, as they carried Farang passports and had a good excuse, they where just told to be careful and sent on ther way

[RickFarang]

School got cancelled and my social life took a serious battering, but other than that it didnt affect me!!!

How about the state of emergencies. is that also lifted.

I hope not for a while to control the movements of protesters

According to the original post, the state of emergency is still in place.

[rkidlad]

My friends in bangkok want the curfew to continue

why

The best dancers in the bar beers can usually get 2-3 short times every night

and after wards to the open air dinning tables on the streets, her they can pick up at least another 1 or 2

If your lucky to get a long time she wants off at 4m to do things at home, or go to work

Enter the curfew

They can not afford to be so fussy

Find a farang early or you will miss out

can not take the chance of getting short time on the street after hours

So she wants long time at a reasonable price

and she need to stay long time so no 4 am runners

Once the early morning comes she is in no hurry to get up as the bed is warm

Many beautiful ladies who have lost their jobs

So need a Farang boyfriend to help meet the expenses

Curfew

Farang never had it so good

Makes me wish I was still unattached

I love getting my oats as much as the next man. But you make it sound like it's difficult in Bkk. Like the curfew actually made it easy to get laid.

I'm really glad I'm not part of this horrible lifestyle where I look at the curfew and think, wow, many ladies will go with me 'cause they don't have time to play around. They'll stay with me the whole night because they have nowhere better to be.

Do you really repel women that much?

Really very sad.

[toptuan]

What curfew? Our city of 100,000+ inhabitants went on about their nightly lives without missing a single beat. If most of the police force are red-shirt sympathizers in your area, no problemo, amigo!

Edited May 29, 2010 by toptuan