AKIPRESS.COM - Thailand's Government is to lift a state of emergency in Bangkok and surrounding provinces two months after imposing it to curb anti-government protests, as the security situation has improved due to the dwindling number of demonstrators, Reuters reported today.

The protesters, mainly from Bangkok and the south, have been trying since early November to overthrow Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and rid the country of the influence of her brother, ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Twenty-three people have been killed, most in shootings and grenade blasts, but the protests have waned in recent weeks and are now mostly confined to Lumpini Park in Bangkok's central business district and a few other sites.

The Internal Security Act is a less harsh law but still allows the authorities to impose curfews, operate security checkpoints and restrict the movement of protesters as needed.

The Government set the 60-day emergency from January 22 to help contain protests in the run-up to a general election on February 2, but most of its measures were barely used, especially after a court ruled on February 19 that some had been imposed illegally.

The election in February was disrupted by protesters in almost 70 of the 375 constituencies, leaving the House of Representatives without a quorum to open and elect a new prime minister.

Yingluck, whose Puea Thai Party had been expected to win the election, heads a caretaker administration with limited powers. She faces a slew of legal challenges that could bring her down, including a charge of dereliction of duty over a rice subsidy scheme that owes money to hundreds of thousands of farmers.