Thousands defy protest ban to join Bangkok demonstration

Bangkok: Thousands of Thai protesters demonstrated in Bangkok on Thursday, defying a ban imposed to end three months of anti-government action that has targeted King Maha Vajiralongkorn as well as Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former junta leader.

Despite police appeals over a loudspeaker to disperse, the group spilled across the Ratchaprasong Intersection in one of Bangkok’s busiest commercial districts. It was the scene of bloodshed in 2010, during more than a decade of violence between supporters and opponents of the Thai establishment.

“Like dogs cornered, we are fighting till our deaths,” said Panupong “Mike Rayong” Jadnok, one the high-profile protest leaders who remains free. “We won’t fall back. We won't run away. We won’t go anywhere,” he told the cheering crowd.


Protesters also filled the walkways of the nearby shopping complex, holding up the three-finger salute adopted as a symbol of opposition after Prayuth’s 2014 coup.

“The people who came know that there is a ban against public gathering of five or more,” police spokesman Kissana Phathanacharoen told Reuters. “We will take things step by step.”

A protester tied a white bow to the wrist of one policemen, saying “One day we will stand side by side when Thailand is better.” Three months of protests in the country of 70 million have been largely peaceful, as was a march by tens of thousands of people on Wednesday. But in one incident, police pushed jeering protesters away from a motorcade carrying Queen Suthida.