Prime minister rejects calls to resign
BANGKOK — Thailand’s prime minister dismissed calls for his resignation Friday, while riot police cracked down on thousands of studentled protesters who rallied in the capital in defiance of a strict state of emergency.
Police used water cannons and charged at the crowd, scattering protesters, onlookers and reporters.
The protesters had gathered in torrential monsoon rains to push their core demands, including that Prime Minister Prayuth Chanocha leave office, the constitution be amended and the nation’s monarchy undergo reform.
It was the second day they defied an order not to gather, imposed after some demonstrators heckled a royal motorcade, an unprecedented development in Thailand where the monarchy is normally held in reverence.
Police had earlier closed roads and put up barricades around a major Bangkok intersection where some 10,000 protesters defied the new decree Thursday. Police in riot gear secured the area, while malls in the normally busy shopping district closed early. Nearby mass transit stations were closed to stop crowds of protesters from getting near the area.
The student protesters, however, simply moved down the street to another large intersection.
The state of emergency outlaws public gatherings of more than five people and bans the dissemination of news that is deemed to threaten national security. It also gives authorities broad powers, including detaining people at length without charge.
A number of protest leaders already have been rounded up since the decree went into effect.
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 promilitary party.
Prayuth said he had no plans to resign as he had done nothing wrong. He said his government hopes it can drop the state of emergency ahead of its normal 30day duration “if the situation improves quickly.”