Thai activists take to the streets of Bangkok; confront the police
The movement has been seeking abolition of the law, also widely known as Article 112, which carries a punishment of three to 15 years in prison.
- World News
- 2 min read
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Thailand's student-led pro-democracy movement turned into a confrontation with police on Wednesday where ten activists were arrested in its early stages.Protest leaders marched a crowd to the police station where the activists were held.There were several minutes of chaos when tear gas was released from an unknown source, angering the crowd.
The rally ended after the ten activists were released. The rally of more than 1,000 people in central Bangkok was called by the Ratsadorn movement, which campaigned last year for Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and his government to step down, the constitution to be amended to make it more democratic and the monarchy to be reformed to make it more accountable.
They called for the rally along with a labour activist group to reiterate their demand that Prayuth leave office and talk about what they call his government's failure to adequately deal with the COVID-19 crisis and economic problems.The rally comes ahead of a no-confidence debate in Parliament next week against Prayuth and members of his government. But after four top protest leaders were remanded into custody Tuesday on a charge of lese majeste - defaming the monarchy - the rally's focus switched to their plight.
The movement has been seeking abolition of the law, also widely known as Article 112, which carries a punishment of three to 15 years in prison. "Today, we are gathering here to start our first fight after the system of injustice took away our friends," said Panupong Jadnok, a protest leader.
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The rally started on a note of tension when police arrested 10 activists who were putting up banners and poster in the public space.They were held for violating cleanlinessMany protesters in Bangkok banged pots and pans to protest, days after people in Myanmar made banging noises from their homes to show the public resistance to the coup. A group of protesters from neighboring Myanmar also spoke about the struggle in their homeland against its newly installed military government.
(Image Credit: AP)