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Thai police used water cannons against protesters Friday night in central Bangkok, while pro-democracy activists defied an emergency decree banning gatherings for the second night in a row.
Some 3,000 protesters in the city’s main shopping center district demanded the release of the arrested activists and some hurled obscenities at Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha.
Several hundred riot police advanced towards them in formation, asking the protesters to go home or face the water cannons.
A few meters away, hundreds of activists blocked the road behind a makeshift barrier, calling on riot police to “get out!” and singing the Thai national anthem.
Police fired blue-tinged water mixed with a chemical agent from the cannons, driving back protesters using umbrellas to protect themselves.
Later, the police dispersed the protesters, but many promised to return.
“Of course people will be back on the streets tomorrow. I’ll be there too,” said Nine, a 21-year-old engineering student. “The (use of force) will increase the number of protesters.”
Four officers and 11 protesters were injured, Police TV said.
“Protesters were repeatedly informed to stop the meeting, once the protesters did not follow orders, it was necessary to enforce the law,” deputy police spokesman Colonel Kissana Phathanacharoen told reporters, adding that it was used blue dye water to mark protesters for more legal information. action.
Piya Tawichai, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Office, said there were at least seven arrests, but did not clarify how many occurred in the protest.
After the police press conference concluded, there were live images on Facebook of a key leader of the Tattep “Ford” Ruangprapaikijseree protest being detained.
“He has blood on his hands,” Ford told police as they escorted him from his accommodation. “You are supporting the dictator.”
Prachathai, a Thai news website, posted images of one of its reporters, Kitti Pantapak, 24, being arrested in the protest.
The kingdom’s political elite have been shaken by the youth-led movement demanding the resignation of the government and calling for reform of Thailand’s once taboo powerful monarchy.
“The country needs people who love the country. People who love the institution,” King Maha Vajiralongkorn said during a ceremony, according to a royal news broadcast on Friday.
On Thursday, Prayut imposed an emergency decree banning gatherings of more than four people, but some 10,000 ignored the measure and demonstrated late into the night.
The government extended the emergency decree on Friday until November 13.
Early Friday, two activists were arrested under a rarely used law prohibiting violence against the queen.
Ekachai Hongkangwan and Bunkueanun Paothong were among the protesters who gathered around a royal caravan carrying Queen Suthida on Wednesday during a large demonstration near the capital’s government house.
In a Facebook broadcast on Friday morning, Bunkueanun denied trying to harm the queen, insisting: “I am innocent. That was not my intention.”
Both men could face life in prison under a law that has not been enforced for decades and that punishes any “act of violence against the queen or her freedom.”
It is unclear why the couple was chosen.
This is the first time such a serious charge has been brought against pro-democracy activists, many of whom have already been hit with lesser charges, including sedition and violation of coronavirus rules at gatherings.
The protest movement’s demands include the abolition of a strict royal defamation law, which protects the monarchy from criticism, and that the royal family stay out of politics.
Among the other main activists arrested on Thursday was Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul, whose arrest was broadcast live on Facebook.
Anon Numpa, another prominent activist, said he was forcibly taken by helicopter to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.
His lawyer, Krisadang Nutcharut, told AFP that Anon had been denied bail and was being held in Chiang Mai prison.
“Keep fighting! My freedom is a very small issue compared to the whole fight for democracy,” Anon posted on Facebook Thursday night.
Thailand’s modern political history is punctuated with periods of violent civil unrest and more than a dozen military coups, the most recent of which brought Prayut to power in 2014.
Bangkok-based analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak said the protest movement could increase the chances that Thailand will face another military takeover.
“This end to the future of Thailand has been in the making for years, and it is finally here and now,” he said.
strawberry-rs-aph / mtp / lpm / st
