Follow Thai politics in English — government policy, elections, parliament and political developments, with reporting and analysis from Thai PBS World.
Activists, who organized the anti-Prayut protest on Sunday, will be charged for allegedly violating the Emergency Decree and the Disease Control Act, according to Pol Maj Gen Piya Tavichai, the deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB). Pol Maj Gen Piya said today (Monday) that a group of political activists, led by Jatuporn Prompan,
Hundreds of people, many of them wearing red shirts, are gathered in Bangkok’s Santiporn Park on Ratchadamnoen Avenue today (Sunday), where the Black May memorial is located, to show their opposition to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. The event was organized by the committee representing relatives of protesters killed by troops in May 1992, during their
Veteran democracy advocate Jatuporn Prompan has announced a new political forum, aimed at getting Thailand’s Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha to step down. The event, schedule for Sunday afternoon, is a collaboration between activists who fought against an undemocratic regime in power in 1992, which ended in a coup following a massacre, known as
Former student activists and survivors of the October 6th, 1976 massacre, in and around Bangkok’s Thammasat University, have launched a new group called “Octoberists For Democracy”, or OctDem. They are calling for an end to the selective prosecution of protesters and activists in recent months. Led by prominent politicians, who claim that they learned about
WeVo guard leader, Piyarat “Toto” Chongthep, was booked by Prachachon police immediately after the Criminal Court granted him bail on Friday afternoon. Piyarat was arrested on March 6th, along with several other WeVo guards, in the car park of Major Ratchayothin mall, by Pahonyothin police. Police found several bullet-proof vests, slingshots and steel and glass
Thailand’s Central Administrative Court ruled today (Friday) that an order, issued by the Finance Ministry in 2016, demanding that former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra pay 35 billion baht compensation to the state for losses incurred in her administration’s scandalous government-to-government rice deals. The court reasoned that the irregularities occurred at the operational level, while Yingluck
Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha is at the heart of the problems facing the nation, anti-government protest leader, Jatuporn Prompan has told Thai PBS World. He is proposing to bring Prayut down as well as write a “people’s constitution”. Prayut might think he legitimised the military coup, which installed him, in the 2019 elections, but
United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) chairman Jatuporn Promphan has vowed to lead a prolonged protest, with the ultimate goal of toppling the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. Jatuporn, who has been sitting on the sidelines, observing the political situation since his release from prison in August 2018, said in his Facebook live
Colourful MP Pareena Kraikupt has gone down in history as the first person to be indicted for “grave ethical offences” under the new anti-corruption law, for her alleged encroachment on state forest in Ratchaburi. The indictment means Pareena is already suspended from Parliament. Last Thursday, the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders ordered
Two groups of protesters rallied near Government House in Bangkok this afternoon (Tuesday). Initially, they were mostly members of the now dismantled “Baan Thaloo Fah” community, originally located in front of the Government House. They gathered on the Chamaimaruchet Bridge at about 3.30pm and then formed a single file line to confront anti-riot police, deployed
Police have set up barricades, using cargo containers, and blocked road access to Government House again, in anticipation of another protest this late afternoon by followers of the anti-establishment Ratsadon group. Road traffic at Suan Miksakawan intersection, heading toward Panichakarn intersection, is closed as cargo containers have been placed to block the Phitsanuloke Road at
Leader of Thailand’s Progressive Movement, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, went to Nang Loeng police station this morning, to acknowledge lèse majesté charges over his Facebook live commentary, during which he questioned the transparency of the country’s COVID-19 vaccine acquisition effort. Thanathorn insists that nothing he said during his livestream defamed the monarchy, and that he is not
