Thai protesters urge king to attain out to people
Thai protesters called on King Maha Vajiralongkorn to attain out for dialogue on Sunday as they gathered for the latest demonstration in months of protests, while counter-protesters chanted royalist slogans nearby.
Protests since July have increasingly needed reforms to the powerful monarchy, breaking a long-standing taboo against criticizing the institution, as well for removing Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and a new constitution"We hope you change your behavior once and for all and become a King of most people," rights legal professional and protest leader Arnon Nampa said in a letter to the king posted online. "I hope Your Majesty will open your mind and get in touch with dialogue around to fix the crises together."
The Royal Palace had not been designed for comment. It hasn't commented since the start of the protests, however the king said yesterday that the protesters were still loved and that Thailand was a land of compromise. Criticism of the monarchy could be punished with 15 years in jail under Thailand's lese majeste laws, nonetheless, it is becoming widespread in recent weeks. Protesters at Bangkok's Democracy Monument were asked to bring letters for the king. A number of the more than 1,000 who gathered there had folded letters into paper darts. Organizers have not said the way the messages would be delivered.
Police told a news conference that public gatherings were banned within 150 meters of royal buildings. Several dozen royalists also gathered on the other side of Democracy Monument, wearing yellow shirts in the colour of the king and waving Thai flags. Many held up pictures of the king and his late father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej. "I want to protect the monarchy and the king," said Chutima Liamthong, 58. "The monarchy is the identity of Thailand. We can not stand without the monarchy," she said.
Monarchists start to see the student-led protesters' demands for reforms to the institution as a way to getting rid it of entirely, although protesters deny that is their goal. The protesters seek to place the king more evidently beneath the constitution, reversing changes he made soon after taking the throne together with moves he designed to take personal control of the palace fortune plus some army units. The protesters say the monarchy has helped permit decades of military domination of Thailand, most recently by approving the premiership of Prayuth, who seized power in a 2014 coup and kept it after disputed elections this past year.
