BANGKOK, Nov 6: The Thai Senate will reject an amnesty bill critics say is aimed at bringing back convicted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra from exile, the Senate Speaker said today, a move that could defuse rising tension on the streets of Bangkok.
The bill is aimed at whitewashing crimes committed by all leaders involved in political unrest since 2004 and is backed by the ruling Puea Thai Party of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin’s sister.
“I reject this bill and will send it back to the lower house. We will not accept this amnesty and the Senate majority agrees with me,” Senate Speaker Nikom Wairatpanij told Reuters.
Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Bangkok since Friday in protest at the bill, threatening to disrupt months of calm in a country scarred by bloody unrest in 2010.
More than 5,000 students at Bangkok’s prestigious Chulalongkorn University marched through the capital in protest against the bill on Tuesday as public outrage gathered momentum.
The bill will be debated in the Senate on Monday when it will need support from at least 76 of the 150 senators to pass.
Critics say the bill is designed to allow Thaksin to return to Thailand without serving jail time after being found guilty in absentia in 2008 of corruption.
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