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 the objective of today’s demonstration is inform the Swiss embassy that the Thai police had over-acted in their use of force to break up protests in the past several days, which the group believes to be a violation of protesters’ basic right to free expression, as enshrined in the Geneva Convention, to which Thailand is a signatory.
Songpol said the complaint letter, for submission to the US embassy, is to inform the US government that the distribution of the 1.5 million doses of Pfizer vaccine, donated to Thailand by the US, is not transparent and that several VIPs, who are not frontline medical personnel, have received the mRNA vaccine.
At the Chinese embassy, the “Talufah” protest leader said the group will tell the Chinese government that the Chinese-made Sinovac inactivated virus vaccine is ineffective against the Delta variant of COVID-19.
He also said that the group would like to tell the world about the utter failure of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s government in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and about its mismanagement of the nation’s economy.
Meanwhile, Palang Pracharat MP Sira Jenjakha, in his capacity as chair of the House committee on law, justice and human rights, said today that the committee has received complaints from many residents in Bangkok, especially those living in the Din Daeng area, about the inconvenience caused by the protesters and police.
He said committee members will join members of the National Human Rights Commission and the political development committee to conduct a field inspection of a protest, scheduled for this Sunday.
