Thailand's government cancelled a state of emergency it had declared for Bangkok last week after the embattled prime minister suggested the gesture to cool massive student-led protests seeking democracy reforms. The revocation of the emergency decree, which took effect at noon local time Thursday, declared that the situation had been mitigated and could now be dealt with by existing laws. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha went on national television on Wednesday night to appeal to pro-democracy protesters to reduce political tensions and promised to lift the emergency measure. "I am currently preparing to lift the state of severe emergency in Bangkok and will do so promptly if there are no violent incidents." Police sought to impose censorship on media reporting of the protests, citing what they called "distorted information" that could cause unrest and confusion.

Source: CBC News October 22, 2020 05:36 UTC