Thousands of whistle-blowing demonstrators closed off a Bangkok business district today to protest against an amnesty bill that would pardon all political crimes and corruption cases committed during 2004-13.

More than 5,000 protesters, mostly office workers, joined the demonstration at 12.30pm local time, shutting the capital’s Silom Road to traffic for hours.

The protesters blew high-pitched whistles to symbolise their mission to expose the government’s attempt to whitewash a decade’s worth of crimes and corruption.

The bill, pushed through the lower house by the ruling Pheu Thai Party on Friday, is widely considered to be for the benefit of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinwatara, the party’s de facto leader.

Thaksin has been living abroad since 2008 to evade a two-year jail sentence on an abuse-of-power conviction.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin’s younger sister, yesterday said it was up to the Senate to decide the fate of the amnesty bill.

The Senate is scheduled to debate it on Monday. If it rejects the legislation, the lower house can still put it out as a law after a 180-day period.

A rejection by the Senate, which has supported previous initiatives of the Pheu Thai administration, could calm tensions in Bangkok.

But at least one demonstrator on the Silom Road said she would only be satisfied if the project were shelved completely.

“If the government drops this bill completely that’s good,” said Warangkanipa Puangthanasarn, 32. “I will not keep protesting against the government if the bill is dropped.”

Another group of several thousand, led by the opposition Democrat Party, assembled around Democracy Monument in the western part of the city.

The group included several Democrat parliamentarians who left their offices for the day to join the street protests, an unusual move for a serving politician in Thailand.

A broad swathe of society has rallied against the amnesty bill, including professors, college students, judges, business groups and royalists.

Opposing culture of immunity for graft

The bill would undo efforts to fight the country’s culture of impunity for corruption and abuse of office, they say.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission issued a statement opposing the amnesty, saying it would absolve thousands of graft violations.

The commission, an independent body under the constitution, said the bill, if approved, would derail 25,331 of its cases, including 400 involving high-level politicians, The Nation newspaper reported.

Further protests were planned tomorrow at a shopping district on the central Sukhumvit Road.

- dpa