Cabinet could cancel parliamentary meetings this week and end protests

If that happens, street protests could be prevented for months. However, PM’s Office Minister Worawat Auapinyakul said such a move was unlikely, as bills on money laundering and terrorism were on the agenda for deliberation.

Rallies planned by the yellow shirts and multicoloured shirts to protest against draft ‘reconciliation’ bills have also been postponed following the cancellation of parliamentary meetings scheduled for this week.

Samart, who proposed one of the reconciliation bills, said that to reduce political tension, the bills could be considered at the next session, beginning on August 1.

In the meantime, Samart said he thought the drafts should be reviewed and polished to clear doubts such as whether Bt46 billion confiscated from former premier Thaksin Shinawatra would be refunded to him.

The Democrat Party held a rally yesterday in the square in front of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration headquarters to explain how the proposed laws would whitewash Thaksin and destroy Thailand’s rule of law. Hundreds of people attended.

The anti-Thaksin People’s Alliance for Democracy issued a statement yesterday to tell its supporters the overnight rally scheduled to start on Tuesday was postponed indefinitely but people should be ready to respond to calls for support at any time.

Tul Sitthisomwong, leader of the multicoloured group, said he would call on protesters to come out whenever a meeting is scheduled again on the reconciliation bill.

Pitoon Poomhiran, secretary-general of the House of Representatives, said he had had a call from House Speaker Somsak Kiartsuranont on Friday night informing him that the House-Senate joint meeting scheduled on Tuesday, and the House meetings on Wednesday and Thursday had all been cancelled. But he did not give the reason.

The House voted on Thursday, before an abrupt adjournment, to push the ‘reconciliation’ bill from item No 27 on the agenda to the top for deliberation. It will be considered once the House meets again.

Somsak had called the meeting on Friday but MPs could not get into Parliament due to the rallies. He later scheduled meetings for Wednesday and Thursday before these were cancelled.

A House-Senate joint meeting had been scheduled for the third reading of the amendment to Article 291 of the 2007 Constitution. This would have allowed the setting up of a new Constitution drafting assembly to write a new charter.

However, the Constitution Court on Friday said it had accepted five separate complaints questioning whether the amendment was constitutional. This resulted in an injunction, halting the third reading. 

Somsak had previously said that MPs and senators would meet to discuss other issues on the 

agenda but that meeting was also cancelled.