Thai police on Sunday used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse hundreds of anti-government protesters who held a rally in Bangkok, despite COVID-19 restrictions banning gatherings of more than five people.
The demonstrators demanded that Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s government step down, and the budget of the monarchy and the military be cut during the COVID-19 pandemic. They also called for the importation of messenger RNA COVID-19 vaccines that have yet to be brought to Thailand on a large scale.
The rally came as Thailand recorded its largest single-day jump in COVID-19 infections — nearly 11,400 — and as fresh restrictions were announced, such as the shutdown of most domestic flights.
Photo: AFP
Many parts of the country, including Bangkok, are already under some form of lockdown, including restrictions on gatherings and business operations, as well as a nighttime curfew.
As infections and deaths climb and as more people face economic suffering, disapproval of the government’s handling of the pandemic has grown.
Criticism of Prayuth’s government for failing to secure early and adequate vaccine supplies is widespread. Thailand mostly relies on two vaccines, including China’s Sinovac shot, which some studies indicate is less effective against the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, which is wrecking havoc across Southeast Asia.
Thailand’s other main vaccine is AstraZeneca, which a Thai company owned by the country’s king has been producing, but in smaller than expected quantities.
Sunday’s rally was led by Free Youth, a student protest group that drew tens of thousands to its protests last year, when it demanded that Prayuth’s government step down, the constitution be amended to make it more democratic and the nation’s monarchy become more accountable.
Jutatip Sirikhan, one of Free Youth’s main activists, said that many people have died from COVID-19 because of a lack of transparency and mismanagement of Prayuth and his Cabinet.
Thailand has recorded 403,386 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 3,341 deaths since the pandemic started. More than 90 percent of cases and deaths have occurred since April. This weekend, daily virus deaths rose above 100 for the first time.
“If we don’t come out now, we don’t know how long we shall survive and whether we will have a chance to do it again,” she said of the virus and the protests.
About 1,500 riot police were deployed, along with water cannon trucks. Deputy National Police spokesman Kissana Pattanacharoen acknowledged that the authorities used water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters after several warnings.
Reports of injuries were not complete, but the city’s Erawan Medical Center emergency services said two people were sent to the hospital from the protests, which the organizers ended before nightfall.
Asian perspectives of the US have shifted from a country once perceived as a force of “moral legitimacy” to something akin to “a landlord seeking rent,” Singaporean Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen (黃永宏) said on the sidelines of an international security meeting. Ng said in a round-table discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Germany that assumptions undertaken in the years after the end of World War II have fundamentally changed. One example is that from the time of former US president John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address more than 60 years ago, the image of the US was of a country
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
BLIND COST CUTTING: A DOGE push to lay off 2,000 energy department workers resulted in hundreds of staff at a nuclear security agency being fired — then ‘unfired’ US President Donald Trump’s administration has halted the firings of hundreds of federal employees who were tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, in an about-face that has left workers confused and experts cautioning that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) blind cost cutting would put communities at risk. Three US officials who spoke to The Associated Press said up to 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were abruptly laid off late on Thursday, with some losing access to e-mail before they’d learned they were fired, only to try to enter their offices on Friday morning
CONFIDENT ON DEAL: ‘Ukraine wants a seat at the table, but wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since an election, the US president said US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and added that he was more confident of a deal to end the war after US-Russia talks. Trump increased pressure on Zelenskiy to hold elections and chided him for complaining about being frozen out of talks in Saudi Arabia. The US president also suggested that he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month as Washington overhauls its stance toward Russia. “I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked about the Ukrainian
RSS