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BANGKOK: Police used water cannons and tear gas against protesters in Bangkok on Sunday (February 28), in front of a military barracks containing the residence of the Thai prime minister.
A youth-led protest movement calling for the resignation of the Prayut Chan-o-cha government has lost steam in recent months following a second wave of COVID-19 infections in the country.
But the recent arrest of four prominent protest leaders on charges of royal defamation has shot him in the arm.
The four are among 58 protesters facing lese majesty charges and the prospect of up to 15 years in jail per charge if convicted of insulting the monarchy.
People watch as protesters take part in a rally as they prepare to march towards the residence of Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha in Bangkok on February 28, 2021 (Photo: AFP / Jack Taylor).
An estimated 2,000 protesters marched from the main Bangkok Victory Monument intersection on Sunday to a nearby military barracks where Prayut lives.
The protesters included dozens of migrant workers from Myanmar demonstrating against the coup that toppled civil leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the neighboring country in early February.
Some Thai protesters marched in helmets and carried red flags. They later passed through shipping containers and barbed wire barricades, sparking a clash with riot police guarding the entrance to the barracks.
Fights broke out between the riot squad officers and the protesters, while some protesters were seen pushing a police truck.
“They are preparing everything: shields, batons, water with some chemicals and rubber bullets,” a protester on the front line told the Thai media.
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Amid the tense standoff, officers used trucks with water cannons and fired tear gas in an attempt to disperse the crowd, the first non-lethal use of force at a Bangkok rally in several months.
Protesters yelled for water and saline solution as they were doused. Some wore raincoats, while others held their bare hands in the air or held up three figures, a symbol of resistance.
Thailand’s protest movement began last July and at its peak it attracted tens of thousands of people, mostly young people.
Among the movement’s demands are a rewrite of the army-drawn up constitution and reforms to the monarchy, a demand that smashes taboos in a country where the ultra-wealthy royal family has long been untouchable.
