Police deploy water cannons and tear gas, Royalists throw bricks – the protests outside parliament

UPDATE: 6 people were shot with live rounds in yesterday’s scuffles. Read more HERE.

The current spate of protests in Thailand took an ugly step forward yesterday when police resorted to using a high power water cannon truck with the water laced with a chemical irritant. They also fired tear gas and, according to protesters, used rubber bullets. Photos show the police were carrying weapons to fire tear gas canisters and rubber bullets. Police maintain their use of force was necessary to protect the parliament building and the lawmakers inside.

Fortified blockades had been assembled on routes leading to the front of the Thai parliament, where a 2 day session to discuss 7 amendments to the 2017 Charter was in play.

At least 18 people, including a child and a policeman, ended up in hospital, most of them through the effects of the tear gas. An earlier protest from around 100 royalist supporters started the day, but it was the afternoon arrival of the anti-establishment protests that attracted a lot more people. The rally then tried to move towards the entrance of the Thai parliament on Samsen Road but police had set up 3-layered concrete barricades, covered in razor wire. They also had riot squads, armed with riot shields and batons, awaiting anyone who tried to get through.

Police maintained that the anti-government protesters, called ‘Ratsadon’ (People’s Party), didn’t advise them of their protest, or make the proper applications, so were marching illegally.

Police sprayed water cannon at protesters at least 8 times. The protesters cut through the razor wire and started pushing aside the concrete barriers outside parliament. Officers then fired tear gas. On at least 2 occasions, caught on camera, protesters ran to grab the tear gas canisters before they started releasing their toxic fumes, and hurled them back at police. The result was police and attendant media being forced to scatter.

Protesters also threw blue paint bombs at police.

On at least one occasion protesters tried to deflate the tyres of the water cannon truck. They managed to shawl slogans all over the blue truck.

The media, in their hundreds, along with other onlookers, watched as thousands of protesters tried to get to the front of the parliament building from many directions. The numbers grew as the sun set. Amazingly, police allowed the media and others to get into quite close proximity of the action, at times volatile and dangerous for everyone in the immediate region.

Bangkok’s Erawan Medical Centre reported a total of 18 people were injured in the protests, 12 suffering the effects of tear gas.

Speaking to Reuters, Piya Tavichai,, the head of Bangkok police said that police were forced to use teargas and water cannon “because protesters were trying to break through the barriers”.

Royalist supporters, clad in yellow shirts, joined the fray and started pelting protesters with objects thrown at close range. They were calling on the parliament not to make changes to the constitution, preferring the status quo.

Watch the Royalist supporters hurling bricks and rocks at the protesters HERE.

Royalist supporters are saying that “amending the constitution is going to lead to the abolition of the monarchy”. The abolishment of the Thai monarchy has never been brought up by the anti-establishment protesters who have consistently said they do not want to abolish the monarchy, rather they want the role of the monarch, and limits on their powers, enshrined in a new constitution.

Inside parliament, MPs and senators were discussing 7 proposals for constitutional changes. Two of the amendments would prevent any changes to the charter which would modify the role of the Thai monarchy. Reform of the Monarchy is one of the main issues raised by the protesters.

Another amendment relates to the way senators would be selected or elected in the future. The current senate is entirely hand picked by the former Junta, the NCPO, who ran Thailand from May 2014 up to March 2019 when Thailand ran a general election.

Once they reached the entry to the Parliament, one of the protest leaders, Anon Nampa said that if Parliament rejects iLaw’s draft amendment to the constitution protesters will gather at the Ratchaprasong intersection at 4pm in central Bangkok.