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BANGKOK: Thai protesters said on Sunday (October 25) that they would ask Germany to investigate King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s use of his powers while he remains in the European country, as thousands of people took to the streets of Bangkok again.
Sunday’s rally was the first major show of force since Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha ignored an overnight deadline for protesters to resign and since he withdrew emergency measures on October 15 that had backfired by generating larger protests.
A march is planned Monday to the German embassy amid calls from protesters to curb the king’s powers in what have become the largest protests against the system in years. The king has spent most of this year in Germany.
The protesters said in a statement that they would send a letter to the embassy to ask whether the king had violated German laws by using his powers from there, something the German government has said would not be acceptable.
The protesters did not specify what powers they believed the king had used from Germany.
“This request is aimed at returning Thailand to the true constitutional monarchy,” the statement said. Thailand is officially a constitutional monarchy.
The protests that began in July to oust Prayut, a former ruler of the army, have also increasingly demanded a change in the monarchy, with protesters saying it has helped allow decades of military dominance of politics.
The Palace has a policy of not commenting to the media and has never said anything about the king’s time in Europe. Prayut has said that people should not criticize the monarchy even if it speaks out against the government.
The prime minister’s office posted a note on Twitter on Sunday to say that Prayut would not resign. Thailand’s crisis will be debated in parliament on Monday and Tuesday.
“If he doesn’t resign, then we must go out and ask him to resign peacefully,” protest leader Jatupat “Pai” Boonpattararaksa told thousands of people gathered in central Bangkok.
There were no signs of a significant police presence around the protesters at the Ratchaprasong intersection, an emotional location for protesters as the scene of bloodshed in 2010 in a crackdown by security forces against protests against the system.
A government spokesman said that force would not be used and called on people to remain in peace and respect the law.
