BANGKOK (AP) — Protesters rallied Saturday in the Thai capital to demand the resignation of court-suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and in support of the armed forces following a violent border dispute with Cambodia that killed more than three dozen people and displaced over 260,000.
Gathered at Bangkok’s Victory Monument despite soaring temperatures, many sang patriotic songs and listened to speeches denouncing Paetongtarn and her father, Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister, and voiced their backing of the country’s army, which has always retained substantial power in the Southeast Asian country. Police said there were about 2,000 protesters by mid-afternoon, though more were expected to join as the temperature cooled.
Some locals accuse Paetongtarn and her family of allowing the conflict — which stretches back decades with both sides claiming pockets of land near the shared border — to escalate due to their close ties with Cambodia’s former prime minister, Hun Sen. A court suspended Paetongtarn last month after Hun Sen, still a major power in his own country, leaked a phone call in which she she called him “uncle” and appeared to denigrate a Thai general, angering many.
The most recent clashes ended with an uneasy Malaysian-brokered ceasefire on July 29.
“Ung Ing, you need to leave,” said one well-known conservative columnist and protester, Jittakorn Bussaba, using Paetongtarn ’s nickname. “Because there’s blood on your hands. People have died because of you,” he said from the stage to general applause.
“Ung Ing has damaged the country. Everyone needs to help out,” said 58-year-old Ammorn Khunthong. “Thaksin and his family should not run or command this country anymore.”
There were many familiar faces from a conservative, pro-royalist group once known as the Yellow Shirts, longtime foes of Paetongtarn’s father, who was toppled in a military coup in 2006. Thaksin, a billionaire tycoon, entered politics by founding his own political party and buying the loyalty of local political bosses nationwide. He was often accused of bullying critics and not separating his business dealings from those of the government.
Yellow Shirts rallies also helped oust the elected government of Thaksin’s sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, in a 2014 coup.
The army in Thailand plays a major role in politics and has staged 13 successful coups since the country became a constitutional monarchy in 1932.
