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Tens of thousands of protesters defied the ban on gathering more than four people to celebrate mass at a major Bangkok landmark on Sunday, carrying posters depicting activists detained in four consecutive days of raucous anti-government demonstrations.
The youth-led movement has suffered several blows this week, with dozens of arrests after protesters surrounded a royal caravan and delivered “hails to democracy” to Queen Suthida.
The government reacted with emergency measures, including a ban on gatherings of more than four people in Bangkok, and the arrest of protest leaders who have called for the removal of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, a former military chief who arrived to power in a 2014 coup.
Police also used water cannons against protesters in Bangkok’s central business district on Friday in an escalation of tactics that sparked outrage in Thai society.
But the crackdown has only served to embolden the movement’s mostly young supporters, who have flocked to short-announced rally points in an attempt to outwit the authorities.
“I can’t let the students fight alone,” said Phat, 24, who is taking part in a rally at Bangkok’s Victory Monument for the first time.
Prime Minister Prayut, the object of the movement’s ire, said the protesters must “exercise their rights under the law” but fears that there are malicious players seeking “to create violence,” said his spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri.
“The government repeats that it is willing to listen to all the people,” he said in a statement.
Police maintained a low-key presence on Sunday, as local media said more than 20,000 people descended to the landmark since afternoon shouting “Free our friends” while carrying placards of those arrested.
Among those portrayed are human rights lawyer Anon Numpa, Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak and Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, three of the movement’s most recognizable faces and who have always called for reforms to the monarchy.
Among their demands is the abolition of a draconian royal defamation law, which protects King Maha Vajiralongkorn from criticism, and a call for the monarch to stay out of the country’s turbulent politics.
Once taboo in Thailand, demands for royal reform is one of the biggest challenges facing the Conservative government aligned with the kingdom’s armed forces.
“There are groups of people who are claiming the monarchy for their own benefit and to get rid of their political opponents,” said a 24-year-old graduate who asked not to be named.
“We will not achieve a true democracy if there is no monarchical reform,” he told AFP.
The establishment elite is unlikely to “move,” said analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Chulalongkorn University.
“Meeting any demand can be slippery and lead to other radical changes,” he told AFP, adding that “tension and confrontation” will likely increase as the daily protests continue.
But the persistently large turnout of the guerrilla demonstrations has now shown that the protesters “are a force to be reckoned with,” Thitinan said.
Victory Monument, one of Bangkok’s busiest thoroughfares, was blocked by protesters, who cleared the way for emergency vehicles and sent supplies by human chains formed along the streets leading to the roundabout.
Since the movement began in July, social media savvy protesters have taken advantage of unorthodox ways to spread their messages, sending alerts through newly formed groups on Telegram, a secure messaging app, and borrowing advice from protests from pro-democracy in Hong Kong.
Another protest site in Asok, a popular shopping and restaurant district, drew a smaller group of protesters who practiced hand signals to warn others of an impending crackdown, wary of a repeat of Friday’s clashes.
“They were just empty-handed children,” said Suk, 65, upset at the use of water cannons against protesters. “All they had were their cell phones.”
At 8:00 pm, organizers announced the end of the Bangkok protests and the crowd slowly dispersed.
Meetings were planned across the country, from Phuket in the south to Khon Kaen in the northeast, where students held up a portrait of Prayut with the words “Get out” scrawled on it.
The Thai Lawyers for Human Rights group reported that at least 80 people have been arrested since Tuesday.
So far, the charges against the protesters range from breaking emergency measures to sedition.
Authorities defended the use of force on Sunday, saying it was in accordance with “international standards.”
bur-dhc / mtp
