Advertisement
As Thailand’s ‘new-breed’ Gen Z protesters dig in, violence mounts and hopes for compromise vanish
- Bangkok’s streets are supposed to be in coronavirus lockdown, yet police clash with protesters demanding the resignation of PM Prayuth Chan-ocha
- ‘We’ll keep coming back’, vow protesters, but the army-backed leader is giving no ground and the casualties are mounting
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
12
In front of a police headquarters defended by water cannons, razor wire and a three-deep line of riot officers, stood a 16-year-old girl from rural Thailand armed with a microphone.
Sand should have been studying but she came to Bangkok instead as the protests demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha – and root and branch reforms of Thai politics and society – reignited across the city.
Bangkok is in virtual lockdown as authorities struggle to contain the coronavirus, but each day Sand and thousands of others like her – young, angry and desperate for radical change – come out to oppose a state they have lost all faith in.
On Tuesday afternoon Sand’s rallying cry of “Prayuth get out! Prayuth get out!” was interrupted by bursts from water cannon and charges by police to clear the demonstrators.
Protesters, some armed with paint bombs – the more hardcore among them, sling-shots and glass bottles – retreated then returned, a daily dance on Bangkok’s streets which is now threatening to spill out of control.
Protests now almost inevitably end in tear gas, broken bottles and rubber bullets.
Advertisement