Germany yesterday warned of “immediate consequences” if Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn broke the law on its soil as protesters gathered at its embassy in Bangkok, stepping up the pressure in their campaign for changes to the monarchy.
The demonstrators planned to submit a letter questioning the king’s legal status in Germany and requesting Berlin to scrutinize whether he has exercised royal authority during his time there in contravention of the country’s law, the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration, one of the protest organizers, said in a statement.
SCRUTINY
Photo: Reuters
“We have not only been looking into that in recent weeks, but on a regular basis,” German Minister for Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas said at a news conference. “If there are things we consider to be illegal, that will have immediate consequences.”
The king, who is currently in Bangkok, spends much of his time in Germany.
Calls to the Thai Bureau of the Royal Household seeking comments went unanswered.
The Thai parliament yesterday also began a debate on the pro-democracy demonstrations that pose a challenge to the royalist elite that has run Thailand for much of its history.
The protesters want Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to resign, changes to a constitution written after a 2014 coup and greater accountability and transparency for the monarchy.
Prayuth, who has ignored calls to quit, yesterday said that parliament would consider the process of charter amendment next month, with a target to wrap it up in three readings in December.
However, the new constitution would not come into force until extensive public hearings are concluded, he said.
The prime minister has previously said the government is open to amending some unspecified parts of the constitution, though parliament last month stalled the charter amendment process.
Protesters say the constitution, which allows a military-appointed Senate to vote for the prime minister, was instrumental in helping Prayuth maintain power.
Sompong Amornwiwat, a leader of the opposition Pheu Thai Party, said Prayuth must resign to de-escalate the situation and urged the government to consider protesters’ demand for amending the constitution without any delay.
PRISONER RELEASE
He also called for the immediate release of arrested democracy activists and an end to harassment of those opposed to the government.
The protesters said that the parliament sitting was being used to insult and slander the anti-
government movement.
“If politics is good, there would be no protests today,” the Thammasat group said on Facebook.
The protest group plans to ask Germany if King Vajiralongkorn would be liable to pay inheritance tax given his long stay in the European country and question the human rights record of his supporters, the group said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS