When the Thai government imposed an emergency law cracking down on red-shirted protesters on the streets of Bangkok last week, the state’s censors were given liberty to silence critical media, according to Marwaan Macan-Markar of IPS. By the weekend, Community radio stations sympathetic to the anti-government ‘red-shirts’ in northern and northeastern provinces were raided by the police and closed down. Also, the information and technology ministry ordered Internet service providers to shut down 67 websites that were allegedly sympathetic to the ‘red-shirts’ protestors. "The radio stations were closed because they were being used to incite violence," Buranaj Smutharakas, Democrat Party spokesman, told journalists. "The right to free speech ends when it is being used to call for violence."
IPS
IPS