Bangkok, June 2 (RHC-Agencies) -- Thailand’s military junta is compiling a list of emergency measures to prop up an economy that was already threatened by recession before the military took over in a coup d’etat last month. But along with working on the economy, the junta is also stepping up suppression of criticism and dissent.

Thousands of cops and soldiers were sent into Bangkok to prevent anti-coup demonstrators from gathering. The military rulers already banned gathering of five or more people, but Thais have been defying that and staging small protests all around Bangkok. Most tend to center around easy-to-find gathering places like shopping malls. The cops prevented that over the weekend by shutting down Bangkok’s city center. Critics insist that the junta’s fear of dissent is typical of paranoid military states.

The head of the air force is now also the head of the economy. Air Chief Marshall Prajin Juntong is considering measures such as price caps on fuel, and the creation of special development zone along the common border with Myanmar, Laos and Malaysia.