Thailand government declares emergency in the wake of unprecedented protesting
BANGKOK — The government declared a strict new state of emergency for the capital Thursday, a day after a student-led protest against the country’s traditional establishment saw an extraordinary moment in which demonstrators heckled a royal motorcade.
After the predawn declaration, riot police moved in to clear out demonstrators who, after a day of rallies and confrontation, had gathered outside Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s office to push their demands.
Those include include the former general’s resignation, constitutional changes and reform of the monarchy.
Several protest leaders were taken into custody, with one later declaring on his Facebook page that he’d been denied access to a lawyer and was being forced onto a helicopter and taken to a city in the country’s north. Police said they had made 22 arrests.
Despite a newban against large public gatherings, thousands of people rallied again in another area of the city later Thursday.
The new gathering, which appeared to have drawn more than the 8,000 people police said had attended the previous night’s rally, lasted about six hours and began winding down shortly after 10 p.m.
Organizers announced would gather again today.
“It shows that no matter how many are arrested, new faces will join the protest,” Patsaravalee they
“Mind” Tanakitvibulpon, an engineering student and protest organizer, told the Standard.
The protest Wednesday in Bangkok’s historic district, not far from glittering temples and royal palaces, was the third major gathering by student-led activists who have been pushing the boundaries of what’s considered acceptable — and legal — language by publicly questioning the role of Thailand’s monarchy in the nation’s power structure.
Thailand’s royal family long has been considered sacrosanct and a pillar of Thai identity.
King Maha Vajiralongkorn and other key members of the royal family are protected by a lese majeste law that has regularly been used to silence critics who risk up to 15 years in prison if deemed to have insulted the institution.
Government spokesman Anucha Buraphachaisri announced Thursday morning that the prime minister had ordered police to take strict action against those who obstruct a royal procession or otherwise insult the monarchy.
The protesters charge that Prayuth, who as army commander led a 2014 coup that toppled an elected government, was returned to power unfairly in last year’s general election because laws had been changed to favor a pro-military party.
The protesters say a constitution promulgated under military rule and passed in a referendum in which campaigning against it was illegal is undemocratic.
Conservative royalist Thais accuse the protest movement of seeking to end the monarchy, an allegation its leaders deny.