`We won't run away': Thais defy protest ban
Protests `till our deaths' target king, PM
BANGKOK• Tens of thousands of Thai protesters cheered and chanted into the night in central Bangkok on Thursday in a show of mass defiance to a ban on demonstrations designed to end more than three months of anti-government action.
As they dispersed, protesters pledged to return to the same place every day.
Growing demonstrations have targeted King Maha Vajiralongkorn as well as Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former junta leader, in the biggest challenge for years to an establishment long dominated by the army and palace.
“Like dogs cornered, we are fighting till our deaths,” Panupong “Mike Rayong” Jadnok, one the high-profile protest leaders who remains free, told the crowd. “We won’t fall back. We won’t run away. We won’t go anywhere.”
Protesters ignored police appeals to disperse and spilled from the Ratchaprasong Intersection across streets and walkways, their cellphones shimmering in the night. The location was the scene of bloodshed in 2010, during more than a decade of violence between supporters and opponents of the Thai establishment.
“All protesters will be prosecuted,” the deputy head of Bangkok police, Piya Tawichai, told a news conference. “I would like us to warn the children and youth: participating in these protests could impact you in the future.”
Police put the number of protesters at 10,000.
Protesters chanted for the release of some 40 activists arrested this week. Some also called out insults against the king — until recently almost unheard-of behaviour in a country where the constitution says he must be revered.
Closing the protest, student leader Jutatip Sirikhan called on people to return at 5 p.m. on Friday and daily thereafter.
Three months of protests in the country of 70 million have been largely peaceful, as was a march by tens of thousands on Wednesday. But in one incident, police pushed jeering protesters away from a motorcade carrying Queen Suthida.
Overnight the government banned political gatherings of five or more people and the publication of news and online information that could threaten national security. Riot police swiftly cleared a protest camp outside Prayuth’s office.
“The measures were necessary to ensure peace and order,” government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said.
He rejected accusations from some government critics that the motorcade incident was an excuse to crack down.