Thailand’s military leaders eased restrictions on local TV content and lifted its curfew on Tuesday at the country’s leading beach resorts — Pattaya, and the islands of Samui and Phuket.
The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) ended a midnight to 4 am curfew in the resorts but not in Bangkok.
After seizing power on May 22, the military leaders imposed martial law, banned political gatherings of more than five people, imposed a 10 pm to 5 am curfew nationwide and censored the local press and TV.
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) approved the airing of 40 satellite TV channels, commissioner Supinya Klangnarong said. Around 600 satellite channels were shut down following the coup.
“Thai children have been blocked from looking at these cartoons for almost two weeks,” Supinya said.
International news channels BBC and CNN were also made available for the first time since the coup.
“They should not have been shut down to begin with,” Supinya said.
“They are harmless, and subscribers to cable TV are annoyed because they have already paid for a package that includes CNN and BBC.”
“At the beginning a ban was necessary to deal with the crisis situation,” NCPO spokesman Colonel Winthai Savaree said. “We had to make sure that everyone got the same message to prevent people from panicking,” he told a press conference.
