Thai protesters install ‘People’s Plaque’
CALL FOR ROYAL REFORM The movement is pushing frank questioning of the royal family’s role in the kingdom into the public — once a taboo topic due to Thailand’s draconian royal defamation laws
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Thousands of protesters cheered as activists installed a new plaque Sunday declaring that Thailand “belongs to the people” — the boldest show of defiance in a youth-led movement which has questioned the unassailable monarchy’s role in the kingdom.
Thailand has seen near-daily protests for the past two months led by student activists calling for the resignation of Prime
Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, a former army chief who masterminded a 2014 coup.
Demonstrators spent Saturday rallying in Bangkok’s historic Sanam Luang field next to the Grand Palace, where organizers took a stronger line on monarchical reform, calling for the royal family to stay out of the kingdom’s politics.
Authorities said the demonstration drew 18,000, though AFP reporters on the ground estimated a 30,000-strong crowd at its peak — making it the largest gathering the kingdom has seen since the 2014 coup.
On Sunday at dawn, student activists installed a commemorative “People’s Plaque” on the paved area adjacent to Sanam Luang field.
“Down with feudalism, long live the people,” shouted protest organizer
Parit Chiwarak to the cheering crowd.
The new plaque states the date 20 September 2020, followed by the proclamation: “The people have expressed the intention that this country belongs to the people and not the king.”
The movement is pushing frank questioning of the royal family’s role in the kingdom into the public — bonce a taboo topic due to Thailand’s draconian royal defamation laws.
The newly installed medallion references the original brass one embedded for decades in the ground of Bangkok’s Royal Plaza.
The people have expressed the intention that this country belongs to the people and not the king.
It commemorated the end of royal absolutism in 1932 after a revolution that transitioned the kingdom into a constitutional monarchy.
But it mysteriously disappeared in 2017 — after King Maha Vajiralongkorn took power following the death of his father — replaced with one bearing a reminder for Thais to remain loyal to the “nation, religion, king.”
Activists say the missing plaque is emblematic of a wider whitewashing of Thai political history.
Palace officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Organizers had initially planned to march to Government House, but a lastminute change of plans saw protesters move to the Privy Council’s office — opposite the Grand Palace — to submit a list of requests.
The highly influential board of royal advisors wields significant influence in Thailand.
Dozens of officers stood guard, alongside water cannon trucks in front of the palace.
The leaderless youth-organized movement, inspired by Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests, is calling for Prayut’s government to be dissolved, a rewrite of the 2017 military-scripted constitution, and for authorities to stop “harassing” political opponents.
Some factions within the movement — including the organizers of the weekend demonstrations — have also called for frank discussion of the monarchy.
Their demands include greater accounting of the palace’s finances, the abolition of royal defamation laws and a call for the king to remain outside of politics.
The ultra-wealthy King Maha Vajiralongkorn sits at the apex of Thai power, bolstered by a powerful military and conservative establishment.