Thousands of protesters cheered as advocates yesterday installed a plaque in Bangkok declaring that Thailand “belongs to the people” — the boldest show of defiance in a youth-led movement that is questioning the unassailable monarchy’s role in the country.
Thailand has seen near-daily protests for the past two months led by student activists calling for the resignation of Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha, a former army chief who masterminded a coup in 2014.
Demonstrators spent Saturday rallying in Bangkok’s historic Sanam Luang field next to the Grand Palace, where organizers took a stronger line on reform, calling for the royal family to stay out of the kingdom’s politics.
Photo: AP
Authorities said that the demonstration drew 18,000 people, although reporters on the ground estimated a 30,000-strong crowd at its peak — making it the largest such gathering Thailand has seen since the coup.
Yesterday at dawn, student activists installed a commemorative “People’s Plaque” in Sanam Luang field.
“Down with feudalism, long live the people,” protest organizer Parit Chiwarak shouted to the cheering crowd.
The plaque states the date Sept. 20, 2020, followed by the proclamation: “The people have expressed the intention that this country belongs to the people, and not the king.”
The movement is pushing frank questioning of the royal family’s role into the public — once a taboo topic due to Thailand’s draconian royal defamation laws.
The plaque references a brass one embedded for decades in the ground of Bangkok’s Royal Plaza, which commemorated the end of royal absolutism in 1932.
It mysteriously disappeared in 2017 — after Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn took power following the death of his father — and was replaced with one bearing a reminder for Thais to remain loyal to the “nation, religion, king.”
Activists say that the missing plaque represents a wider whitewashing of Thai political history.
Palace officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Organizers had initially planned to march to Government House, but a last-minute change of plans saw protesters move to the Privy Council’s office — opposite the Grand Palace — to submit a list of demands addressed to the king.
The highly influential board of royal advisers wields significant influence in Thailand.
Dozens of officers stood guard, alongside water cannon trucks in front of the palace.
The largely leaderless movement, partly inspired by Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests, is calling for Prayut’s government to be dissolved, a rewrite of the 2017 military-scripted constitution, and for authorities to stop “harassing” political opponents.
Some factions within the movement have also called for greater accounting of the palace’s finances, the abolition of royal defamation laws and a call for the king to remain outside of politics.
Protesters have called for another rally on Thursday outside the parliament as lawmakers debate potential constitutional changes.
A general strike has also been called for Oct. 14.
“People have woken up,” student Napassorn Saengduean, 20, said as yesterday’s rally dispersed. “I will keep coming back until I die.”
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