Follow Thai politics in English — government policy, elections, parliament and political developments, with reporting and analysis from Thai PBS World.
Thailand’s House of Representatives passed the Public Health Ministry’s (MoPH) 37.6 billion baht budget for the 2022 fiscal year, in its second reading today (Saturday), by 242:124 votes,despite opposition MPs’ heavy criticism of a the lack of transparency and inappropriate budgeting for several medical items, such as rapid antigen test kits (ATK) and the Chinese
Anti-government “Talufah” protesters are demonstrating in Bangkok again today (Friday), with stops at the Swiss, US and Chinese embassies. The “car mob” protest group, comprised mostly of motorcyclists and motorists, converged at the Victory Monument at about 11am, before moving toward the three embassies. The group’s spokesman, Songpol Sonthirak, told the media this morning that
Three anti-government protesters, including a leader of the vocational students, who form the hard core element of the “Talufah” demonstrators engaged in street battles with the police in the past weeks, have been arrested by police, Pol Maj-Gen Piya Tavichai, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, told a news conference today (Thursday). He said
Opposition parties are seeking to slash the government’s 3.1 trillion baht spending in the 2022 fiscal year, by 100-300 billion baht, on the first day of the three-day budget bill debate in the bill’s second and final readings in parliament today. Before the start of the debate, House Speaker Chuan Leekpai informed all MPs about
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Pol Lt-Gen Phukphong Phongpetra denied that police had used live bullets against protesters at Din Daeng intersection last night (Monday), but admitted that live bullets were used by some “unknown elements among the protesters”. He confirmed that an individual, who was seen shooting from the Din Daeng police station at protesters, is a policeman,
Police fired teargas and used water cannons this evening to break up protesters after they defied an order to disperse and tried to remove razor wire to get close to Government House in Bangkok. The protesters, from the Talu Fah group and riding motorcycles, had gathered at the Victory Monument at about 4pm before moving
Anti-government street protests have resumed, in spite of the worst disease pandemic in recent history, and they are being held almost daily. So, who are they? Various political groups are currently protesting and demanding that Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha steps down, highlighting his failures in the handling of the COVID-19 situation, with the failure
Another no confidence motion against Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and five other cabinet members was filed by the Opposition today (Monday), with a censure debate expected later this month or early next. The motion is the third since the second Prayut administration came to power in July 2019. The prime minister and the other
Young hard core anti-establishment protesters, many of them vocational students, clashed with crowd control police at Bangkok’s Din Daeng intersection again this evening (Sunday), as they tried to breach a wall of shipping containers and a police cordon blocking access to the out-bound side of Vibhavadi Rangsit highway. These protesters did not join the three
At least three anti-government protest groups will hold what they call “car mob” protests in Bangkok and the neighbouring province of Ayutthaya this afternoon (Sunday), to demand the ouster of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. Nattawut Saikuar, former core member of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) and a leader of one of the
The constitutional amendments bill, which passed its first reading in a joint sitting of Thailand’s House and Senate in late June, has been sent to House Speaker Chuan Leekpai to be added to the meeting agenda for its second and third readings. Already vetted by a joint panel of 30 MPs and 15 senators, the
Crowd control police fired teargas and rubber bullets at hardcore protesters this evening, as the demonstrators tried to breach a wall of shipping containers, placed at the main Din Daeng intersection in Bangkok to prevent them from moving toward the First Infantry Regiment of Royal Guard barracks, where Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has his residence.
