Thai youth defy warnings as thousands join Bangkok rally, testing government and monarchy

Name: Thousands of protesters defy warnings in latest Thai protests targeting government and monarchy
Uploaded: 2020-08-16T07:26:34.000Z
Duration: 2 min 11 s
Description: Thousands of protesters defy warnings in latest Thai protests targeting government and monarchy

Student-led groups have staged anti-government demonstrations for weeks that have included calls for monarchy reform

Thailand’s prime minister has called for unity as he finds himself a target of growing discontent

4-MIN READ4-MIN

Anti-government protesters take part in a rally by the Democracy Monument in Bangkok on Sunday. Photo: AFP

SCMP Reporter

Published: 3:26pm, 16 Aug 2020Updated: 4:02pm, 17 Aug 2020

Thousands of pro-democracy students rallied in Bangkok on Sunday, in a protest set to test the depth of support for a bold, unpredictable youth movement which is targeting Thailand’s government and making unprecedented calls for reforms of the monarchy.

02:11

Thousands of protesters defy warnings in latest Thai protests targeting government and monarchy

As many as 15,000 largely black-clad protesters gathered at the city’s Democracy Monument – making it one of the largest anti-government rallies since 2014’s coup – as calls for a new constitution, dissolution of parliament and end to judicial harassment of dissenters gather momentum despite the arrests of three key activists over the last week. Police estimates put the crowd size at 10,000.

Protesters use mobile phones as flashlights as they attend Sunday’s rally in Bangkok. Photo: Reuters

Under a searing sun and into the night they chanted anti-governments slogans and sang protest songs. Earlier, a transgender speaker whipped up the crowd from a stage, surrounded by papier mache white “freedom” doves. Calls from the mostly young protesters for greater LGBT rights and the decriminalisation of abortion put them that at odds with the kingdom’s socially conservative ruling class.

About 100 pro-monarchy supporters, mostly old and many holding portraits of Thailand’s king, had gathered ahead of the protest and stood across the road briefly singing the Thai royal anthem.

A group of Thai royalists at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok, ahead of the rally by student-lead groups. Photo: Reuters

One pro-monarchy speaker on a megaphone said: “You can tackle our government, that’s up to you, but don’t touch our monarchy”.