Thai people demonstrate against military dictatorship

Thai demonstrators against military dictatorship, Reuters photo

In Bangkok hundreds of people have taken to the streets to protest against the military regime in Thailand. They took action at the regional headquarters of the United Nations. The estimated 900 demonstrators want the regime to stop what they believe is intimidation of activists.

The demonstration is one of the biggest against the government in months. It is organized by the People’s Movement for a Just Society, a network that stands up for people who have lost their land because the government has expropriated it.

Fear

Protests against the junta are relatively special in Thailand because Thai people did not dare to demonstrate in recent years.

“Two years ago no one would have taken to the streets to demonstrate against it, but now the irritation about the junta has won the fear”, says correspondent Michel Maas. “These are not the first and certainly not the last demonstrations that will be held there.”

Coup

The army seized power in Thailand in 2014 and thus put an end to a protracted period of protests. The junta promised that free elections would be held, but they have been postponed several times, to the displeasure of the population. The elections are now scheduled for next year.

Maas thinks that the Thai protest movement will become bigger in the coming period.

The Thai election held on March 24 was a sham, engineered by the country’s military junta to try to give some legitimacy to its autocratic rule. After seizing power in 2014, the regime promised to hold an election the following year, but even after ramming through a new anti-democratic constitution in 2016, has repeatedly delayed any poll, fearing a voter backlash: here.