Banks refuse to take a Friday holiday
- Published: 9/04/2009 at 10:49 PM
- Online news: Breakingnews
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva insists he will not resign or dissolve the parliament as the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) leaders demanded because following them would not lead to democracy.
The group's demands, especially the demand for members of the Privy Council to resign, were undemocratic and inappropriate, the prime minister said on a national television on Thursday evening.
He said dissolving the parliament when the country is in a crisis would not bring about democracy.
In addition, the premier said the cabinet agreed to make Friday an
additional holiday for the long Songkran weekend, and the government
will later enforce regulations to prosecute the wrongdoers.
However,
the Bank of Thailand (BoT) announced that commercial banks and the
Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) will not close Friday, because many
transactions need to be completed.
Mr Abhisit claimed that as chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the country has many responsibilities and dissolving the parliament now would disrupt everything, he continued.
Mr Abhisit said 70 per cent of the red-shirts had already returned home while the remaining 30 per cent had changed their anti-government rally scheme.
He said the UDD's demands were clearly illegitimate, because they urged people to break the law.
He asked public members to help the government monitor the situation and report potential mischievous incidents to authorities promptly.
The measures being enforced by the government would bring the situation to normal as quickly as possible, and they would not affect the majority of people, he assured.
