Anti-establishment Ratsadon followers rallied at the Pathumwan skywalk at about 4pm on Wednesday to protest the court sanctioned detention, at Bangkok’s remand prison, of their four leaders on lèse majesté and other charges.
The protesters then marched to the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, where speakers took turns lambasting the government for its alleged mishandling of the CONVID-19 pandemic, the vaccine program and other failures.
Addressing the crowd of mostly young people, Ms. Panasaya “Rung” Sitthijirawattanakul said that today should have been a day dedicated to Thai labourers suffering from the impacts of the pandemic and, worst yet, abandonment by the government.
Instead, she said that the protesters had to fight for the release of their four leaders.
She also repeated their demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, the rewriting of the Constitution and reform of the monarchy.
At about 7.30pm, the protesters marched to the Pathumwan district police station, after they learned that a few protesters were being held in custody there.
They laid siege to the police station to demand the release of their fellow protesters by 8.30pm or they said they would storm the station.
During the standoff, at about 8.20pm, several explosions, believed to have been giant firecrackers, were heard behind the police station. A tear gas canister was later found on the road.
At about 9pm, police released all the detainees.
