Pro-democracy protesters gathered near the Grand Palace in Bangkok to demand reforms and the release of activists
Security forces in riot gear pushed back about 1,500 protesters who had pulled down part of a barricade of shipping containers outside the Grand Palace. In some places, police faced off with protesters who threw firecrackers.
“We’re demanding real democracy and not a government that says it is elected but comes from the army,” a 60-year-old man who gave his name only as Kung, told the Reuters news agency. “The world has changed and we want the same kind of monarchy as in Western countries,” he added.
Police used shields, batons, rubber bullets and tear gas and arrested five protesters, police deputy spokesman Kissana Pattanacharoen told reporters.
“We repeatedly issued warnings before escalating our response,” he said, adding that protesters used metal bars and threw stones and marbles.
A youth-led protest movement sprang up last year calling for Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s resignation and a reform of the powerful monarchy.Posing the biggest challenge so far to the prime minister, protesters broke a traditional taboo by saying the constitution drafted by the military after the 2014 coup gives the king too much power.
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