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The Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES), in charge of security operations for the past eight months, will be replaced by the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc).

Read commentary on the lifting of the State of Emergency in today's Bangkok Post by Nattaya Chetchochiros (Read article).

Photo below of downtown Bangkok at the time that the State of Emergency was imposed in May.

Click button to listen to Lifting State of Emergency and rightclick to download

State of emergency is lifted: Centre set up to deal with any future unrest by Wassana Nanuam, Pradit Ruangdit and King-Oua Laohong

Security checkpoints and patrolling troops and police should be a thing of the past when the cabinet decision to lift emergency rule in Bangkok and three surrounding provinces takes effect today.

Gone, too, will be the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES), which has been in charge of security operations for the past eight months.

The cabinet yesterday agreed to revoke the state of emergency and replace it with the Internal Security Act (ISA). Security will again become the responsibility of the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc).

The CRES, chaired by Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, held its last meeting yesterday to assess the situation before passing the baton on to the Situation Monitoring Centre.

Isoc spokesman Ditthaporn Sasasmit said army chief-of-staff Dapong Rattanasuwan, in his capacity as Isoc secretary-general, would be in charge of the new centre which comes under Isoc.

About 100 staff - military, police and civilian - have been seconded to help at the centre where the main tasks will include monitoring political movements, especially those involving the red shirts who plan to hold rallies on the 10th and 19th day of each month to mark the April 10 clash between red shirt protesters and government forces at Khok Wua intersection and the May 19 dispersal of demonstrators from the Ratchaprasong area.

Lt Gen Dapong is expected to call the first meeting of the centre today to set policy, map out strategy and delegate responsibilities, Mr Ditthaporn said.

Acting government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said yesterday security agencies had assessed the situation and decided they could manage without the state of emergency.

The protests have subsided and have been in line with the law," Mr Panitan said.

Authorities understand how to handle the situation. And the public is against any form of violence.

The spokesman said the cabinet had approved the allocation of 130 million baht to fund the operations of the Situation Monitoring Centre. The centre would be set up at the regional and provincial levels and 14 agencies including the Information and Communication Technology, Transport and Labour ministries would provide coordination, he said.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday Isoc was back in the picture and management of security would proceed in accordance with its plans.

The police would play a lead role in maintaining security under the ISA and the military would act to support the police.

"I've talked to the national police chief. He understands what lies ahead and he is confident the police can manage," said Mr Abhisit, who is the Isoc director.

Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan and Pathum Thani are the last of 24 provinces to have the state of emergency lifted.

The special law was invoked in early April to enable authorities to maintain law and order after the red shirt demonstrations turned violent.

Ninety-one people died in the capital and about 1,400 were injured in clashes between government forces and protesters in April and May.

A cabinet source quoted the National Security Council as saying the red shirts would continue to take the fight for change to the government next year.

The source said the group was expected to engage in a wide range of activities and use media channels including community radio to keep up the pressure.

The United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship today plans to submit a petition seeking the temporary release of all red shirts still held in detention.

UDD chair Thida Thavornseth said the group's lawyer would discuss the matter with red shirt leaders and go ahead with the petition if they have no objection.

(Source: Bangkok Post, State of emergency is lifted: Centre set up to deal with any future unrest, 22/12/2010, Wassana Nanuam, Pradit Ruangdit and King-Oua Laohong, link)

state - condition สภาพ
emergency - an unexpected situation involving danger in which immediate action is necessary เหตุฉุกเฉิน

State of Emergency (SOE)  - "a governmental declaration that may suspend certain normal functions of government, alert citizens to alter their normal behaviors, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale for suspending civil liberties. Such declarations usually come during a time of natural disaster, during periods of civil disorder, or following a declaration of war (in democratic countries, many call this martial law, mostly with non-critical intent)." (See Wikipedia)

Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) - the government organization in charge of controlling the political unrest that has been rocking Thailand for several years (See announcement for creating agency 13-04-2009)

Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) - a unit of the Thai military devoted to national security issues  กองอำนวยการรักษาความมั่นคงภายใน abbrev: กอ.รมน. (See Wikipedia and read 9 july 2007 article by Chang Noi)
Internal Security Act (ISA) - the law that gave powers to ISOC

security - the need to provide safety from attack, harm or damage ความปลอดภัย
Security checkpoints - places on the road where police or army stop cars and check people looking for something illegal
patrol - when soldiers, police, or guards move around an area and check it to make sure there is no trouble
lift - to end a warning, a restriction, etc. ยกเลิก
lift emergency rule - end the State of Emergency
rule - (of a court or other group with similar authority) to make and announce a decision ตัดสิน, พิพากษา, ชี้ขาด
surrounding - all around a place บริเวณรอบๆ
takes effect - when a law starts to exist, be used and enforced 
in charge of - managing, guiding, controlling 
revoke - take away and end, to official say that something is no longer legal and in use ยกเลิก เพิกถอน
replace - to get rid of one thing and to put a new thing in its place หาคนมาแทน

responsibility - 1. being blamed for something that goes wrong, 2. having to take care of some task as part of your job
meeting - when a group of people come together to discuss issues and make decisions การประชุม
assess - looking closely and evaluating a situation or person and then making a judgment about it ประเมิณสถานการณ์
assess the situation - evaluating a situation and then making a judgement about it
passing the baton - giving your work to someone else to do
spokesman - the person who makes official announcements for an organization (speaks for or "on behalf of" the organization)
staff - workers, employees พนักงาน
army chief-of-staff - the general with the highest rank in the army and therefore the leader of the army
capacity - a particular position or job
in his capacity as - working as, doing the job

civilian - of someone who does not belong to the armed forces or the police พลเรือน
seconded - when an organization sends people some place to do some work
monitoring - regularly checking an ongoing activity or process (to check for problems or collect information) จับตาดู
rallies - when a large number of people meet in one place to listen to political speeches and show support for something like a political party or candidate
mark - to celebrate something ฉลอง
clash - a fight between groups of people การปะทะกันสองฝ่าย, การต่อสู้ด้วยกำลัง, fight การปะทะ
intersection - a place where roads, lines, etc., join or cross each other สี่แยก
disperse (verb) - scatter ทำให้กระจัดกระจาย, ทำให้แพร่หลาย, ทำให้แพร่กระจาย
dispersal (noun) - 1. breaking up, the process of spreading people or things over a wide area, 2. the process of breaking up a crowd การแพร่พันธุ์
demonstrators - people who march with other people in public to show that they support or oppose something ผู้ชุมนุมประท้วง

expected - believe will happen คาดว่า (จะเกิดขึ้น)
policy - a plan of action to guide decisions and achieve outcomes (See Wikipedia) นโยบาย
strategy - a plan to achieve long term goals ('strategy' gives the big picture, 'tactics' the details)
map out strategy - create a a strategy
delegate - to choose someone to do a job for you or to represent you, give a task and responsibility to another to perform (instead of performing it yourself) แต่งตั้งตัวแทน
responsibilities - things that you must do as part of your job or position
protests - meetings, sometimes forceful or violent, or public statements by people who strongly disagree with something ชุมนุมประท้วง
subsided - gone down, disappeared, does not exist anymore
in line with - agreeing with, following
handle the situation - solve all the problems in a situation and bring it back to normal

violence - physical force with the deliberate intention of causing damage to property or injury or death to people ความรุนแรง
allocation - an amount of or share of something, in this case, the national budget การแบ่งส่วน
fund - to provide money for something  ให้เงินทุน กองทุน
provide - to give someone something that they want or need
coordination - the act of making all the people involved in a plan or activity work together in an organised way การประสานกัน

back in the picture - is important again, will play an important role again

proceed - to continue as planned ดำเนินการ
proceed in accordance with plans - events happened as planned

role - the purpose, function or influence of someone or something in a particular situation; function or job บทบาท
play a role - have a purpose or function in some situation or job
play a lead role - will lead and guide activities

support - help, by giving money, for example สนับสนุน
national - for the whole country
what lies ahead - what will happen in the future
confident - being certain of your abilities or of having trust in people, plans, or the future มั่นใจ

invoke a law - use a law to do something (start enforcing the law and arresting people, for example)
enable - to make someone able to do something, or to make something possible ทำให้เป็นไปได้
authorities - government officials
authorities - the police or people in official organisations who have the legal power to make people obey laws or rules เจ้าหน้าที่ (ตำรวจ หรือผู้มีอำนาจ)
maintain - to keep รักษา
law and order -
violent - involving the use of physical force, with the intention of causing damage to property or injury or death to people รุนแรง
capital - money invested in a business (See glossary)
source - someone who gives information แหล่งข่าว

engage in activities - do activities
range - a number of different things that are of the same general type ขอบข่าย, ประเภท
media - radio, television, newspaper, the Internet, considered as a group สื่อ
media channels - the different kinds of media: radio, television, newspaper, the Internet
community - the people living in one particular area ชุมชน
community radio -
pressure - when people are being pushed or forced to so something
keep up the pressure - continue to push or force someone to do something

submit - officially give a document to an organisation, to formally give something to someone so that can make a decision about it ยื่น (เอกสาร) เพื่อการพิจารณา
petition (noun) - a document signed by a large number of people demanding or requesting some action from the government or another authority การถวายฎีกา,การร้องเรียน
petition - a formal request for action to be taken, made to a court of law การยื่นอุทธรณ์
petition (verb) - to make a formal request, to ask someone in authority to do something ยื่นคำร้อง
temporary - done or used for only a limited period of time ชั่วคราว
release - allowing someone to go free การปล่อยตัว
detention - forced officially to stay in a place การกักตัว

matter - something that you are discussing, considering or dealing with สิ่งที่พูดถึง ประเด็นที่พูดถึง
objection - a statement that shows that you disagree with a plan, or a reason for your disagreement การแถลงการคัดค้าน