Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Thursday called on anti-amnesty bill demonstrators to stop protesting against her government and let the country move forward, after the House of Representatives agreed to withdraw all six amnesty related bills from its agenda.
In a speech broadcast live on television, Ms Yingluck reiterated that the government's planned amnesty move had ended. She asked opponents of the blanket amnesty bill to stop rallying because the country had been greatly bruised from political conflicts in recent years.
She was speaking after the five MPs who submitted the six amnesty-related bills all agreed to withdraw their draft legislation and asked for House approval. The House voted 310-1 to approve the request.
She denied rumours that the government was prepared to use violent force to disperse the protesters by deploying military officers to the rally sites, saying only police will handle the situation and all security procedures will be carried out under the law.
The general public should not to go near the rally sites as authorities were concerned about third parties trying to incite violence, she said.
"I'm concerned that mounting public protests against the government's planned amnesty bill could have a negative impact on Thailand.
"This government has been elected [by the people]. We respect their will and opinions.
"The government will not defy the people's feelings. We will not do anything violent and will not do anything to infringe on His Majesty the King," Ms Yingluck said.
Anti-amnesty rallies in Bangkok (Photos by Post Photographers)
Meanwhile, the self-named Group of 40 Senators called on the prime minister to dissolve parliament and call a general election to "return power to the people". The group makes up mostly of appointed senators.
In an interview with Democrat Party-owned Blue Sky satellite TV channel, Somchai Sawaengkarn, a member of the group, said the senators had passed a resolution agreeing to demand that Prime Minister Yingluck annul parliament.
Mr Somchai said the government has lost the people's trust to the point where it is impossible to regain it.
On the blanket amnesty bill, he said the public could not trust the government’s promise that it would not later revive and pass the bill into law if the Senate rejects it and sends it back to the House.
He described the bill as one of the worst pieces of legislation in Thai political history.
He said a dissolution of parliament was the best way for the government to resolve the situation now that its push for a blanket amnesty had brought people nationwide out on to the streets in protest.
Later, Senate Speaker Nikom Wairatpanich called a meeting of the Senate to deliberate the amnesty bill on Friday, instead of Monday, amid pressure from senators in the Group of 40 and continuing political protests on the streets.
The amnesty move was broadly seen as designed to benefit fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who lives abroad to avoid a two-year jail term on an abuse-of-power conviction.
Thaksin is considered the de facto leader of the ruling Pheu Thai Party that was pushing the amnesty.
On Friday, groups of demonstrators gathered in different areas of Bangkok, including Asoke, Ratchadamnoen and around parliament, to voice their opposition to the government's move to provide a blanket amnesty for all political crimes and corruption cases committed from 2004 to 2013.
Surin Pitsuwan, former secretary general of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean), attempted to approach parliament but was blocked by police.
"This is not a smart thing to do," said Mr Surin, also a senior Democrat Party member. "Blocking people from protests will just make them grow."
"This amnesty is wrong," said Suwin Jumpha, a shop owner who had joined another protest near central Sukhumvit Road. "You cannot pardon people who have committed crimes. This is bad for the economy because it encourages corruption," she said.
By midday about 2,000 protesters, mostly well-dressed office workers, had gathered near a large shopping complex on Sukhumvit, blowing whistles to signal their opposition to the amnesty and partially blocking the four-lane road.
Thousands of police manned barricades around Government House, which holds the premier's office, and other official buildings around the capital.
Anti-amnesty rally at Asoke (Video by Patipat Janthong)
Demonstration at Ratchadamnoen (Video by Thiti Wannamontha)
Thammasat joins protest (Video by Panumas Sanguanwong)