Thailand latest: Big crowds keep pressure on Prayuth government

Thailand’s protesters got here out in power in Bangkok once more on Sunday afternoon. They’ve proved in current days that an emergency decree, unhealthy climate, a police crackdown and public transit suspensions aren’t sufficient to maintain them at dwelling. With tensions operating excessive and activists exhibiting no indicators of giving in, the authorities’ subsequent transfer stays a serious query mark.

For all our protection, go to our Turbulent Thailand page. Here is how issues have unfolded to this point:

Sunday, Oct. 18 (Bangkok time)

eight:30 p.m. The gang at Victory Monument is steadily packing it in, although some individuals nonetheless occupy a portion of the roundabout. The organizer formally introduced an finish to the protest there at eight:20 p.m., barely later than deliberate.

It is value noting that Bangkok will not be the one place the place Thais took to the streets tonight. There have been native stories of rallies scattered throughout the nation, together with Chiang Mai, the province of Pathumthani and elsewhere. These protests additionally seem to have petered out for now.

eight:00 p.m. The gang at Asoke intersection clears out in a matter of minutes, calling it a day and making manner for site visitors to renew. The state of affairs at Victory Monument stays to be confirmed.

7:30 p.m. The phrase is that organizers need to wrap up tonight’s demonstrations by eight p.m., once more dispersing of their very own accord. Let’s have a look at what the subsequent half-hour brings.

6:30 p.m. Parliament President Chuan Leekpai has referred to as a casual cross-party assembly to debate how the legislature can contribute to ending the political tensions. Chuan says he has instructed parliamentary officers to organize for a potential particular session. The parliament is at the moment in recess and is scheduled to reconvene on Nov. 1.

6:15 p.m. It is raining in Bangkok once more. Protesters have handed out raincoats. Those that can be on the entrance strains of a potential police crackdown have additionally been given umbrellas and helmets, simply in case. The turnout at Victory Monument seems to quantity within the 1000’s.

The gang at a secondary website, Asoke, can be giant.

6:00 p.m. Thai broadcasters play the nationwide anthem day by day at 6 p.m. The gang at Asoke intersection sings it, too, whereas giving the three-finger salute.

four:55 p.m. Some demonstrators are holding up footage of protest leaders who’ve been detained by the authorities.

Although Victory Monument is the principle website, social media posts present one other rising gathering on the Asoke intersection.

four:25 p.m. As we speak’s foremost protest website is Bangkok’s Victory Monument. Photographs posted on social media present a crowd beginning to construct. Hoping to discourage the younger people who find themselves driving the motion, the authorities have threatened that protesters who take and put up selfies at the marches may face authorized motion.

2:41 p.m. As soon as once more, the authorities are shutting down key transport hubs in an try and hold crowd sizes in examine. The federal government says providers will resume “when the state of affairs turns into regular.”

1:47 p.m. Mary Lawlor, the United Nations particular rapporteur on human rights defenders, expresses “alarm” over the state of affairs in Thailand.

11:09 a.m. Activist group FreeYouth points a web-based name for recent protests throughout Bangkok beginning at three p.m. at present. After a sweeping shutdown of public transportation on Saturday failed to discourage 1000’s of individuals from packing the streets, how will the authorities reply this time?

1:10 a.m. A web based petition calling on Germany to declare Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn a persona non grata has reached practically 140,000 signatures out of a aim of 150,000, in accordance with Change.org.

The petition — posted in Thai, English and German — is addressed to Chancellor Angela Merkel, Overseas Minister Heiko Maas and senior German lawmakers. It says the king and his entourage have “travelled between Thailand and Germany at their very own leisure, disregarding any rules in place each [countries] just for the sake of their very own comfort.”

Requested not too long ago by a member of parliament how Berlin would respond to the king participating in home politics from German soil, Maas mentioned: “We’d all the time clearly counteract efforts by visitors in our nation to conduct political views from our nation.”

Thailand has blocked entry to Change.org in response to the petition, the BBC has reported.

zero:53 a.m. Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong as soon as once more attracts a parallel between the Thai protests and final 12 months’s demonstrations within the Chinese language metropolis.

Saturday, Oct. 17

eight:00 p.m. Though contributors have been saying there aren’t any leaders and that “everyone seems to be a frontrunner,” bulletins may be heard telling individuals to go away and collect once more tomorrow. Keep tuned on social media, they are saying. Teams of demonstrators are heeding the decision at a number of locations, together with Lat Phrao intersection, which seems to have been the positioning of tonight’s greatest rally. It appears like extra protests and transport disruptions are in retailer.

7:50 p.m. Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whose authorities was changed by a junta led by present Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha in 2014, speaks out with a Twitter message directed squarely at him.

She asks whether or not Prayuth remembers when protesters demanded her resignation six years in the past. Yingluck writes that again then, Prayuth had requested her a query: “Whether or not I can proceed my authorities?”

“As we speak,” she says, “the identical incident has occurred to you, when greater than 100,000 college students and the Thai individuals demand you resign. … I hope you may recall what you requested me and I hope you’ll resolve rapid to decide on the technique to carry the nation to peace and prosperity.”

7:25 p.m. Social media posts counsel among the protests are starting to disperse peacefully, answering rally organizers’ name to move dwelling by eight p.m.

6:50 p.m. Like Joshua Wong, fellow Hong Kong activist Nathan Regulation additionally tweeted earlier this night in assist of the Thai protesters. In the meantime, massive crowds are nonetheless out on the streets of Bangkok.

5:02 p.m. Protest organizers name on contributors to wrap all of it up by eight p.m. this night, urging them to relaxation and combat one other day. However will the authorities let the rallies run their course or step in like they did final night time?

“We’ll combat collectively till the darkish powers are over,” activist group Free Youth tweets.

four:50 p.m. One other day, one other sizable crowd marching by means of Bangkok.

four:30 p.m. The shortage of public transportation definitely is not stopping everybody. Listed here are a few early footage from at present’s rallies.

Protesters present the three-finger salute at Udomsuk station in Bangkok on Oct. 17. (Reuters)

An activist coated in blue paint — presumably symbolizing the blue-colored water police fired on demonstrators yesterday. (Reuters)

three:45 p.m. Rally organizers have named not one however at the least three foremost goal areas for protests. They’re:

1) Lat Phrao intersection, which is near the CentralPlaza Ladprao purchasing heart, the Vitality Ministry and state oil and gasoline firm PTT’s headquarters.

2) Wong Wian Yai, a big site visitors circle in Thonburi, on the west financial institution of the Chao Phraya River, the place a statue of King Taksin is located.

three) Udomsuk intersection within the west of the town, a serious gateway to different cities like Chonburi, Rayong in addition to Pattaya; the intersection can be near a business space.

Highway and public transport closures may make it troublesome for a lot of would-be protesters to achieve these areas, however they might additionally make their manner by means of the town’s internet of smaller streets.

three:03 p.m. Transportation round Bangkok is severely disrupted. The BTS SkyTrain service, a key a part of the town’s transit community, has simply tweeted that every one its stations will probably be closed for the remainder of at present.

11:59 a.m. “As we speak, the rally will probably be held at 16:00, place not but” set, the pro-democracy group Folks’s Celebration 2020 says in an announcement.

“After the crackdown on 16 October, we discovered that authorities and navy are an enemy to individuals,” the assertion reads. Urging protesters to return, the group says everyone seems to be a frontrunner and asks individuals “to organize your physique and thoughts to be prepared for the rally at present, and be able to deal with … the crackdown that could be achieved once more.”

zero:38 a.m. Joshua Wong, the Hong Kong activist, expresses solidarity with Thailand’s pro-democracy motion. “Folks shouldn’t be afraid of their governments,” he tweets. “Solely governments ought to be afraid of their individuals.”

Friday, Oct. 16 (Bangkok time)

10:48 p.m. “I received caught and I’ll the Police Station,” activist Tattep Ruangprapaikitseree, also referred to as Ford, tweets.

9:40 p.m. State tv broadcasts a uncommon video of King Maha Vajiralongkorn talking on to a bunch of native loyalists throughout an viewers at Sakon Nakhon Rajabhat College in northeastern Thailand on Thursday. “I believe now you perceive that the nation wants individuals who love the nation and the establishment” of the monarchy, the king tells them. “All of the experiences you have had and all of the work you have achieved may be useful. You possibly can train the brand new era in regards to the experiences you have had. Will probably be extraordinarily helpful.”

eight:00 p.m. Some protesters stay on the Pathumwan intersection, however the demonstration leaders announce an finish to tonight’s rally.

7:40 p.m. Some protesters have fled, whereas others are sticking round as police push them again. They’re transferring towards Chulalongkorn College.

7:10 p.m. Police are utilizing water cannons to attempt to break up the demonstration.

7:00 p.m. Riot police have been transferring in on Pathumwan. The state of affairs is tense.

6:00 p.m. The gang at Pathumwan has swelled, whatever the rain.

Like Ratchaprasong, the unique protest vacation spot, the Pathumwan space is dwelling to giant purchasing facilities. Additionally it is near the Sra Pathum Palace, the residence of Princess Sirindhorn, the king’s sister — although there isn’t any indication that the protesters are concentrating on it.

5:10 p.m. The rally organizers are urging individuals to assemble at a special location than initially deliberate. They’ve recommended converging on the Pathumwan intersection, about 1 km west of Ratchaprasong. Pathumwan is one other massive crossing in Bangkok’s business coronary heart, however lies exterior the world sealed by police.

four:05 p.m. Bangkok’s BTS Skytrain service posts on Fb that trains won’t be stopping at its Chit Lom and Ratchadamri stations, close to the Ratchaprasong intersection the place protesters are planning to converge once more in lower than an hour. Skipping the stations would conform to a police order to cease site visitors by means of the world.

Information stories counsel there’s a heavy police presence within the space as rain continues to fall.

three:15 p.m. It is a moist, dreary day in Bangkok. Rain began falling round 2 p.m. Showers are inclined to final an hour or two on this tropical nation, but when the climate does not clear up, it may discourage among the extra informal protesters from attending this night’s rally.

2:30 p.m. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has advised reporters he won’t resign, rejecting one of many protesters’ calls for. He defends the emergency declaration, which was formally permitted throughout a particular cupboard assembly within the morning — hours after demonstrators ignored it.

“It’s a vital process given the incidence of unprecedented violent conditions,” Prayuth says. The decree is to stay in impact for 30 days.

The prime minister additionally says a curfew is feasible below the “severe emergency” state of affairs. When requested if he would contemplate introducing martial regulation, he says it’s a chance if issues get actually out of hand, however stresses: “Now we have not reached that time. There isn’t a want for that proper now.”

12:20 p.m. Six opposition events, led by the Pheu Thai Celebration, have issued a joint assertion in opposition to the federal government’s response to the protests. They are saying there was “no reliable purpose” to subject the emergency decree banning giant gatherings. The regulation, they argue, is getting used “as a political software in limiting the expression of political views.”

The assertion lists a number of calls for for Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and authorities officers. It calls on them to raise the emergency, assure free expression, keep away from utilizing the navy and chorus from utilizing power. It additionally urges demonstrators to not resort to violence, and requests a particular session of parliament to handle “numerous issues and points.”

eight:15 a.m. After a dramatic night time that noticed 1000’s stream into central Bangkok’s Ratchaprasong intersection, protest organizers are calling for another rally beginning at 5 p.m. at present. Like yesterday’s demonstration, this could defy an emergency ban on gatherings of 5 or extra individuals.

Whereas we wait to see how at present unfolds, listed here are some scenes from final night time.

A person speaks to the rising crowd of protesters at Bangkok’s Ratchaprasong intersection, recognized for its glitzy purchasing malls. (Reuters)

Law enforcement officials collect to reply to the protest, the place demonstrators demanded that the federal government resign and launch the motion’s detained leaders. (Reuters)

Hundreds of demonstrators make the three-finger gesture that has grow to be a trademark of the protests. (Getty Photographs)

A monk receives an providing from a protester on the road. (Getty Photographs)

A person reveals the three-finger salute, borrowed from “The Starvation Video games” franchise of books and movies. (Reuters)

four:30 a.m. Human Rights Watch says in a statement that the Thai authorities’s declaration of a state of emergency in Bangkok is “a pretext for a crackdown on peaceable demonstrations.”

Noting that the police have arrested at the least 22 activists in entrance of Bangkok’s Authorities Home, Brad Adams, the group’s Asia director, wrote: “The Emergency Decree offers the Thai authorities with unchecked powers to suppress elementary freedoms and ensures zero accountability for officers. Thai authorities mustn’t repress peaceable protests with draconian legal guidelines that violate freedom of speech and different civil liberties.”

“The Thai authorities has created its personal human rights disaster,” Adams wrote. “Criminalizing peaceable protests and requires political reform is a trademark of authoritarian rule.”

Thursday, Oct. 15

11:00 p.m. The Bangkok Submit stories that Thai courts have permitted arrest warrants for 2 activists believed to have been among the many protesters when the royal motorcade carrying Queen Suthida and Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti handed on Phitsanulok Highway on Wednesday afternoon. The warrants are for severe costs below Part 110 of the legal code, however what the activists had allegedly achieved was not revealed.

Underneath Part 110, whoever commits an act of violence in opposition to the freedom of the queen shall be punished with imprisonment for all times, or of 16 to 20 years.

10:00 p.m. Organizers resolve to name it a day whereas public transportation continues to be operating to take protesters dwelling. Whether or not fired-up demonstrators will merely go away stays unsure.

eight:30 p.m. The demonstrators have broken into a skywalk that had been sealed off by the police earlier than the rally. They pressured their manner in round 7 p.m., tearing down a metallic lattice within the course of. The skywalk, which connects Siam and Chidlom stations on Bangkok’s BTS Skytrain line, is now occupied by a whole bunch of individuals.

7:00 p.m. The CentralWorld mall, regardless of an earlier assertion that it might keep open till 10 p.m. as regular, opted to shut an hour in the past, citing congestion reduction. Large C Supercenter, a grocery store within the space, was closed earlier than 6 p.m.

6:30 p.m. A few protesters among the many 1000’s share their ideas.

“Now we have been suppressed for lengthy. We would like an equal society,” says a 26-year-old girl. “Success could not come at present. However it’s one other start line. We’ll develop repeatedly from right here.”

One other younger girl, aged 17, says she feels politics is a “matter for everybody.”

“Thai democracy proper now will not be the true one.”

6:00 p.m. Panupong Jadnok, a 24-year-old social activist and one of many key protest leaders who continues to be free, vows that individuals will keep by means of the night time, at the same time as police monitor the group carefully.

“Now we have occupied this Ratchaprasong space,” he says. “I ask all of you who’re nonetheless combating for democracy to come back and be part of us tonight.”

“Free our buddies,” protesters shout in unison, demanding police launch those that had been arrested this morning close to Authorities Home.

5:45 p.m. The protest is obstructing all site visitors by means of Ratchaprasong intersection. The BTS Sky Prepare — a key transport artery — is working however is reportedly bypassing some close by stations.

Demonstrators have arrange a cell stage — principally an enormous truck with an amplifier — on the heart of the intersection, surrounded by main purchasing malls and the posh Grand Hyatt Erawan lodge. For security, shops and companies within the space have allowed workers to go dwelling sooner than anticipated.

5:25 p.m. The gang converging on Ratchaprasong intersection has swelled to an estimated few thousand individuals, as of 5 p.m.

four:45 p.m. Native media stories say police have closed roads resulting in Ratchaprasong. A Reuters report estimates the group at “a whole bunch” to this point, with chants demanding the discharge of demonstrators and key motion leaders who had been arrested earlier within the day. Reuters describes one protester tying a white bow on the wrist of a policemen, saying, “Someday we’ll stand aspect by aspect when Thailand is best.”

four:00 p.m. Not less than some protesters flip up in defiance of the emergency diploma because the clock strikes four p.m. — the deliberate begin time for an illustration in Bangkok’s business core. Photographs posted on-line present police clearing individuals out of a skywalk. Now a crowd is starting to swell on the road close to Ratchaprasong intersection. It stays troublesome to say how a lot traction this can acquire.

three:05 p.m. The outlook for this afternoon’s deliberate protest stays unclear. However a Thai professor tells Nikkei Asia that he doesn’t count on the protesters will again down.

“They’ll attempt many strategies to problem the [emergency] declaration,” the professor says, “to be able to present the worldwide group that this authorities will not be able to governing the nation anymore.”

2:25 p.m. Human rights group Amnesty Worldwide expresses concern.

“This obscure, drastic order will result in extra individuals unfairly arrested, detained and prosecuted,” Ming Yu Hah, deputy regional director for campaigns, says of the emergency decree in a information launch. “With additional public assemblies anticipated to occur at present, we urge the Thai authorities to have interaction in constructive dialogue with the protesters.”

Ming calls the response to the demonstrations “utterly unjustified” since they had been “overwhelmingly peaceable.”

2:00 p.m. “I do know they’ll arrest me sometime, however we’re ready for that second,” pupil chief Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul told Nikkei Asia in an interview two months in the past. The third-year undergraduate was one of many protest leaders detained earlier at present.

1:35 p.m. The Philippine Embassy in Thailand warns Filipinos within the nation to keep away from crowded areas and observe authorities’ directions, in accordance with native media stories.

1:30 p.m. Reuters stories that the police and military intend to make use of checkpoints to cease protesters from gathering.

1:10 p.m. CentralWorld, one of many largest malls in Bangkok and located on the northwest nook of the Ratchaprasong intersection, has put in fences round its periphery to discourage protesters from getting into. A mall consultant tells Nikkei Asia that the plan is to remain open for the common working hours, till 10 p.m.

Gaysorn, one other mall on the northeast nook, has additionally arrange fencing. College students at a close-by faculty have been advised to go dwelling early to keep away from a potential showdown.

12:05 p.m. To date, it seems to be enterprise as regular in Bangkok’s Ratchaprasong space, picked because the gathering level for a potential rally this afternoon. There have been no bulletins by main malls of plans to shut early, as of midday. Nonetheless, the police request to keep away from the world later at present may have an effect on the movement of customers.

12:00 p.m. For an in-depth take a look at what’s motivating younger Thais to take to the streets, read our Big Story from earlier this 12 months. “After years of silence, the younger generations have reached a threshold, a set off level,” one skilled advised Nikkei Asia.

11:40 a.m. In the meantime, diplomacy continues. Chinese language Overseas Minister Wang Yi arrives on the Authorities Home in a black sedan for talks with Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha. Reuters says they’re anticipated to debate cooperation on recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.

11:10 a.m. Bangkok’s deputy police chief, Piya Tawichai, says about 2,000 officers will probably be dispatched from midday to the neighborhood of Ratchaprasong intersection, in case demonstrators observe by means of on plans for an additional rally. The general public is suggested to keep away from the world — the business coronary heart of the town — from four p.m. to 10 p.m.

Piya additionally confirms 20 demonstrators had been arrested as of seven:30 a.m., together with three key leaders. This doesn’t embody the arrest of Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, one other motion chief, who was taken into custody later within the morning.

10:15 a.m. Thailand’s benchmark SET index falls as a lot as 1% in early buying and selling, suggesting at the least some investor unease over what the federal government is now calling the “severe emergency state of affairs.”

9:40 a.m. Plenty of key protest leaders have been arrested, together with one who posted a video clip encouraging individuals to proceed with a protest in one other a part of Bangkok this afternoon.

In gentle of the emergency decree, police would possible end up in power for this. Keep tuned.

6:47 a.m. Thai riot police clear 1000’s of protesters from exterior the prime minister’s workplace, in accordance with Reuters.

6:14 a.m. Here’s a preliminary translation of the federal government’s announcement signed by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha:

“Many individuals have instigated and mobilized unlawful public gatherings in Bangkok with some ways and channels that prompted chaos and dysfunction. There was conduct that affected the royal motorcade, and there was purpose to consider there was violent conduct that affected state safety, security in life or belongings of the individuals and state. This was not a peaceable gathering endorsed by the structure. It additionally instantly impacts the management of COVID-19, which instantly impacts the weak financial system of the nation. It is vitally essential to have pressing measures to repair this and halt this conduct successfully so the regulation is revered and the general public is so as. Subsequently, following Part 5 and Part 11 of the emergency decree, the prime minister has declared a state of extreme emergency on Oct. 15 from four a.m. onward.”

6:08 a.m. The federal government orders a ban on gatherings of 5 or extra individuals in Bangkok, in accordance with an official doc accompanying the emergency decree.

Underneath measures that took impact from four a.m. native time, authorities have the ability to ban individuals from getting into any space they designate.

It additionally bars the “publication of reports, different media, and digital data that accommodates messages that would create worry or deliberately distort data, creating misunderstanding that may have an effect on nationwide safety or peace and order.”

5:30 a.m. Thai state tv publicizes that the federal government has issued an emergency decree, citing a necessity to take care of peace and order.

Protesters have referred to as for the ouster of junta leader-turned-Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha in addition to a brand new structure. They’ve additionally referred to as for reforms to the monarchy of King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

A royal motorcade carrying Queen Suthida had earlier encountered demonstrators, who flashed three-finger salutes. She smiled and waved again. The king’s motorcade later handed alongside the highway with out incident on his approach to a ceremony on the Temple of the Emerald Buddha close to the Grand Palace.

State tv mentioned: “As it seems that many teams of individuals have invited and incited unlawful public assemblies in Bangkok … acted to have an effect on the royal motorcade and dedicated extreme actions that affected nationwide safety … this can be very essential to introduce an pressing measure to finish this case successfully and promptly to take care of peace and order,” in accordance with Reuters.