House Speaker calls off deliberation of reconciliation bill following protest
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House Speaker Somsak Kiartsuranon onFriday postponed the House meeting scheduled to deliberate the controversial reconciliation bill after anti-government protesters prevented lawmakers for accessing the Parliament.
Somsak issued the order to postpone the deliberation at 1.20pm.
Initially, the meeting was scheduled at 9.30am but protesters started besieging the Parliament in the morning, prompting Somsak to postpone the meeting to 1.30pm.
Earlier Somsak claimed he led Pheu Thai MPs to attend the House meeting but could not pass the lines of protesters into the Parliament compound.
Somsak said he was informed by police that MPs could not enter the Parliament compound.
“I therefore ordered the indefinite postponement of the meeting. I hope to see the atmosphere in the country improve,” Somsak said.
He said he would to wait to take political temperature before deciding when to hold the next meeting.
Starting from about 7am, the yellow shirts led by the People's Alliance for Democracy joined up with the multicoloured shirts led by Tul Sitthisomwong in sealing the Kan Ruen intersection on Rajvithee Road, the only access route to the Parliament.
Some Pheu Thai MPs sneaked out of Parliament by ducking under a wire fence. Unconfirmed reports suggest that ruling party MPs were looking for an alternative venue to convene a parliamentary session after so few MPs were able to make it to the House chamber.
