Thai army denies martial law rumours; Mkts rally

Bangkok, June 14: Thai army chief and coup leader Sonthi Boonyaratglin denied rumours today that he was about to fire his appointed prime minister or impose martial law in the capital, to the relief of nervous stock market investors.

The benchmark SET index, which fell more than two per cent yesterday amid speculation that Sonthi was about to crack down on a small anti-coup demonstration in Bangkok, climbed more than one percent at the opening bell.

Sonthi, who led last September's bloodless military coup against democratically elected prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, appeared on television to deny reports of an impending curfew or ructions within the military.

One of the other rumours sweeping around the jittery capital suggested renegade elements within the Council for National Security (CNS), as the coup commanders are called, would stage a counter-putsch against Sonthi.

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, appointed after the coup as head of an interim government, denied he was about to issue an emergency decree to force a few hundred pro-Thaksin protesters outside Bangkok's glittering Grand Palace to disperse.

''The rumours came during the current intense political activities, but I hope people know how to check these rumours and will not be panicked,'' Surayud told reporters.

''If the information doesn't come from state media either television or radio it is just rumour,'' he said.

Surayud, who can be fired at any time by Sonthi under the interim constitution, added that he would only invoke emergency rule in the event of crowd violence.

Reuters>