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BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha urged all parties to calm down on Tuesday (November 10) as tensions rise between royalist groups and protesters calling for reforms to the monarchy.
For months, the kingdom has witnessed mass demonstrations led by student leaders calling for democratic reforms, with some bolder figures challenging Thailand’s impregnable monarchy.
The movement’s demands have caused commotion through its royalist establishment, prompting royalist groups to organize counter-protests that have resulted in some minor fights with protesters.
READ: Thai police use water cannons against protesters in Bangkok
Prayut, whose removal from office is one of the movement’s key demands, said Tuesday that both sides have the right to “express their opinions” as long as it is within the law.
“A confrontation is not the way to solve a problem,” he said after a cabinet meeting.
“I urge all parties to refrain from crashing and violating the law in such an excessive way that the authorities would have to use all measures to enforce the law.”
Police use water cannons against protesters to disperse them during an anti-government rally in Bangkok on November 8, 2020 (Photo: AFP / Mladen Antonov).
Prayut’s call comes two days after the police deployed water cannons as a “warning” against protesters attempting to deliver letters to King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
It was only the second time such tactics were used.
Prayut, a former military chief who came to power in 2014, said the government was not “taking sides.”
READ: Testing Real Taboos: Inside Thailand’s New Youth Protests
However, so far, dozens of activists and student leaders have been arrested and charged for participating in the protests.
Some face particularly serious charges of sedition and violence against the queen, a law that is rarely used and carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
The police are not known to have made any arrests during the royalist rallies.
