Thailand Protest News
Stay informed about the latest protest news across Thailand with The Thaiger. Our extensive coverage offers balanced reporting on the most recent political demonstrations, social movements, and public gatherings. Get real-time updates, analysis, and insights on major protests and their effects on society and politics. Equip yourself with invaluable knowledge to understand the complexities and ongoing developments in Thailand’s social and political landscape.
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How can the Thai government resolve the current protest crisis?
OPINION The Thai Government has no easy way out of the current protest situation. Over the past months an organic, mostly young Thais, political movement has been building. It’s different from every protest movement in the past. The people attending the rallies don’t really align themselves or identify with the past political factions. They’re not red shirts or yellow shirts.…
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Saturday night protests around Bangkok end peacefully
Four different locations, between 15,000 – 20,000 protesters, all ending peacefully. Police were not far away from any of the gatherings but a clear message has come from the top to avoid another violent display like Friday night at the Pathumwan intersection in Bangkok’s central shopping district. Police and government officials tried to short-circuit the protesters plans early yesterday afternoon…
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Protests continue at 5 locations around Bangkok this evening – VIDEO
With the latest announcement from protesters about a new round of protests today, from 4pm, Police scrambled their resources to try and second guess the locations. Whilst the protesters are out-gunned by brute force and equipment, they remain nimble, digitally connected and committed to continue the latest round of protests, defying demand from the police that they are breaking the…
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Thai PM says he won’t resign as he has done “nothing wrong”
Unsurprisingly, Thailand’s PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is dismissing calls for his resignation as protests continue to escalate and protesters defy bans to rally in the streets of Bangkok. Rally organisers have already announced that they will be massing again today from 4pm, rumoured to be at numerous BTS stations around the central capital area. Out of a list of 10 key…
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Police break up Bangkok protest with high-power water cannons, more protests planned today
The latest round of protests took a violent turn last night when more than 400 police resorted to aiming high-powered water cannons directly at the students who were assembled in an otherwise peaceful display of unity. The protesters, mostly secondary and tertiary students, and young Thai adults, continued their demands for the release of their fellow protesters who had been…
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Pathumwan intersection protest kicks off in defiance of police and government orders
In the latest cat and mouse game between police and protesters, the students waited for Bangkok police to close down the Ratchaprasong intersection, the site of last evening’s rally, and then scheduled tonight’s rally at the nearby Pathumwan intersection instead, one of the busiest intersection in the city. The posted the switch of location at 4pm, after police had sealed…
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Bangkok in “State of Emergency” for 1 month, PM warns about possible curfew
For the next month, Bangkok will be in a “State of Emergency” with a ban on public gatherings of more than 5 people. If protests persist and get out of hand, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has warned today that the government will invoke a nightly curfew, prohibiting people from leaving their homes during certain hours. It should be said, that even…
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Bangkok city intersection closed and secured ahead of next rally at 5pm
Police have closed Bangkok’s Ratchaprasong Intersection and Ratchadamri Road, just hours before the next round of anti-government protests were scheduled to begin at 5pm. Ratchadamri Road is being closed all the way to the Pratunam intersection. The closure, on a Friday afternoon, provides the city an additional traffic headache. The police secured the area just before 2pm today. Early yesterday…
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Human rights NGO, opposition parties, say State of Emergency infringes human rights
A Thai human rights NGO has criticised the government’s decision to declare a State of Emergency in Bangkok, as political unrest escalates in the capital and around the country. iLaw says the imposition of the emergency decree gives the PM the unrestricted right to use special powers that violate citizens’ human rights. iLaw points out that the new ban on…
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“Thai authorities should not repress peaceful protests”, Human Rights Watch
OPINION The Thai government’s declaration of a state of emergency in Bangkok is a pretext for a crackdown on peaceful demonstrations, Human Rights Watch said today. Since the declaration of a state of emergency on October 15, 2020, the police have arrested at least 22 activists, including several protest leaders, in front of Bangkok’s Government House. “The Emergency Decree provides…
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Activists vow to push ahead with political protests in Bangkok today
A mass gathering of protesters at Bangkok’s Ratchaprasong intersection and Ratchadamri Road ended around 10pm last night, with activists vowing to return for more of the same today. Members of Khana Ratsadon 2563 (People’s Party 2020) announced they will reconvene today to keep pouring pressure on PM Prayut Chan-o-cha’s government. Among the group’s demands are a call for the PM…
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5,000 pack Bangkok’s central shopping district to continue the protest
Police have been taken aback by the huge amount of support for a protest at Bangkok’s famous Ratchaprasong Intersection, the site of the 2015 Erawan Shrine bombing incident where 20 people died. Bangkok, currently under a State of Emergency, declared by the Thai government in the early hours of this morning, is on edge this evening as huge crowds swarmed…
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Protester arrests after emergency decree “unjustified,” Amnesty International says – VIDEO
The State of Emergency imposed in Bangkok at 4am this morning, banning public gatherings and leading to the arrests of at least 20 people, is a “vague, drastic order that will lead to more people unfairly arrested, detained and prosecuted,” according to an official from the human rights group Amnesty International. The emergency decree broke up a pro-democracy demonstration intended…
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Students at Naresuan University mark 1973 uprising with candlelit vigil
As tens of thousands of protesters gathered at Government House in Bangkok yesterday, students at Naresuan University in northern Thailand were commemorating a 1973 uprising with a candlelit vigil. The October 14, 1973 popular uprising, known as the “Day of Great Sorrow” was a defining moment in Thailand’s history, ending the ruling military dictatorship of the time and changing the…
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UPDATE: Bangkok under a State of Emergency, protests ‘cleared’, 20+ arrested,
Bangkok awakes to a State of Emergency, imposed at 4am to quell the growing support of the latest protest movement. The Thai government has used its emergency decree powers to impose a “State of Emergency” in Bangkok, and placed a ban on gatherings of any more than 5 people. The tough new security laws, put in place early this morning,…
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Protest planned at Bangkok’s Rathchaprasong intersection, despite State of Emergency
Despite the recent emergency decree banning public gatherings, as well as warnings from police, pro-democracy activists are planning to gather at Bangkok’s Rathchaprasong intersection at 4pm today. Bangkok’s State of Emergency was imposed at 4am this morning, banning gatherings of more than 5 people. At least 20 people were arrested after the decree was announced, according to deputy police spokesperson…
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Police arrest protest organiser after she calls for a new rally in Bangkok this afternoon
Police have arrested 2 more key organisers of the pro-democracy rally after one of them read a statement calling for another protest in Bangkok shopping precinct this afternoon. Panussaya Sitthijirawattanakul, a critic of the monarchy and one of the protest organisers, was arrested at a Bangkok hotel just after hosting a Facebook, livestream, “calling on people to join a rally planned…
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Activists vow to fight on despite arrest of leaders, emergency decree
Activists from Khana Ratsadon 2563 (People’s Party 2020) say they will not surrender and will continue to fight what they term, “the dictatorial power and its feudal followers”. “Khana Ratsadon (“People’s Party”) was a Siamese group of military and civil officers, and later a political party, which staged a bloodless coup against King Prajadhipok’s government and transformed the country’s absolute…
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Activists dispersed, protest leaders arrested, as State of Emergency declared in Bangkok
“It is extremely necessary to introduce an urgent measure to end this situation effectively and promptly to maintain peace and order.” This was how state television announced the imposition of a State of Emergency in the capital in the early hours of this morning, effectively ending a political rally at Government House that had been set to continue “indefinitely”, according…
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Truck drivers carrying ‘royal supporters’ face charges for travelling on expressways
6 truck drivers carrying loads of ‘royalists’ to the Democracy Monument, are facing charges pressed by the Expressway Authority of Thailand, or EXAT. The yellow-clad ‘supporters’ of the royal family stood tightly packed on the bed of Department of Law Enforcement trucks, riding down the Kamphaeng Phet-Yommarat tollway. They were all dressed in yellow, a colour that symbolises the Thai Monarchy.…
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Royalists take over the protest route to make way for Royal motorcade
Maybe the headline should be “The Empire Strikes Back, Thai style”. A group of dressed in yellow, many who are military and police officers, took over the pro-democracy protest route to make way for the Royal motorcade. The dates of both the protest, announced back on September 20, and the motorcade for HM The King to travel to oversee a…
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“Elevated risk of unrest” after 21 activist arrests, UN department says
Today’s pro-democracy rally in Bangkok poses an “elevated risk of unrest” after 21 protesters were arrested yesterday, according to an email sent to staff of the United Nations Department of Safety and Security. The email advising the staff to avoid protest sites was obtained by local blogger and Samut Prakan school employee Richard Barrow and Samut Prakan school employee and…
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Protest leader Arnon calls impromptu demo to push for release of activists
Anti-government protest leader Arnon Nampa took to social media yesterday to call on fellow activists to assemble at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre for a pre-protest protest. They are demanding the release of 21 arrested protesters who were rounded up by police yesterday whilst setting up for today’s scheduled rally around the Democracy Monument. In a live broadcast on…
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Toilets might be a problem at tomorrow’s pro-democracy rally
The pesky issue of student’s Numbers 1s and Number 2s has become a potential problem for protest organisers. Toilets might be hard to find at tomorrow’s pro-democracy rally. Activists say the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is refusing to provide mobile toilets for the rally at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument. (Although in the past, protest organisers have arranged the toilets for their events.)…
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Protest leader says activists “in it for the long haul”
Human rights lawyer and protest leader, Arnon Nampa, says political activists seeking to oust the current Thai government are “in it for the long haul”. The leader of the People’s Group (formerly the Free People movement) says protesters will gather at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument on Wednesday (October 14), before proceeding to Government House. There, he says they will set up…
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Bangkok police warn protesters not to block King’s motorcade in October 14 protest
Bangkok police are warning political demonstrators not to block His Majesty the King’s motorcade in their upcoming protest event on October 14. Thailand’s King is set to preside over the graduation ceremony for Level 6 and 9 Pali scholars at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Thailand’s deputy national police chief, Damrongsak Kittiprapat, says to cope with the demonstration, police…
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Anti-government activists confirm details of October 14 protest
Members of the Free People pro-democracy group have gathered in Bangkok to confirm the details of a protest planned for October 14. Human rights lawyer Arnon Nampa, one of the key leaders in the current anti-government protest movement, confirmed to those gathered at the Sanam Luang public square in Bangkok that the rally will kick off at 2pm next Wednesday.…
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University alumni and students gather to commemorate the Thammasat University Massacre – VIDEO
A small gathering was held yesterday on the grounds of Bangkok’s Thammasat University Tha Prachan Campus commemorating the 44th anniversary of the ‘Thammasat University Massacre’, the violent crackdown on students by right-wing militia and army in the morning of October 6, 1976. Former student leaders, university alumni and opposition politicians came to pay their respects for the fallen and voice…
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3,000 police officers to be deployed at next pro-democracy rally to “keep the peace”
Around 3,000 police officers will be deployed at the October 14 pro-democracy rally at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument. The event marks the anniversary of the 1973 uprising which led to the end of the military dictatorship of anti-communist Thanom Kittikachorn. Metropolitan Police Bureau Chief Pakkapong Pongpetra says the officers will be there to “keep the peace.” The 1973 incident precipitated a…
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Bangkok police prep for October 14 pro-democracy rally
Police are getting ready for the next pro-democracy rally planned for October 14 at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument, marking the anniversary of the 1973 uprising which ended the military dictatorship of anti-communist Thanom Kittikachorn. Police are following social media pages associated with the rally, like Democracy Restoration Group, to try and get a head count to determine how many officers should…
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