In Thailand, protests began in early 2020 with demonstrations against the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. They later expanded to include the unprecedented demands for reform of the Thai monarchy. The protests were initially triggered by the dissolution of the Future Forward Party (FFP) in late February 2020 which was critical of Prayut, the changes to the Thai constitution in 2017, and the country's political landscape that it gave rise to.
This first wave of protests was held exclusively on academic campuses and was brought to a halt by the COVID-19 pandemic. Protests resumed on 18 July 2020 with a large demonstration organised under the Free Youth umbrella at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok. Three demands were presented to the Government of Thailand: the dissolution of parliament, ending intimidation of the people, and the drafting of a new constitution. The July protests were triggered by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and enforcement of the lockdown Emergency Decree and spread nationwide. The protesters were mostly students and young people without an overall leader.
On 3 August, two student groups publicly raised demands to reform the monarchy, breaking a long taboo of publicly criticising the monarchy. A week later, ten demands for monarchy reform were declared. A 19 September rally saw 5,000–10,000 protesters and has been described as an open challenge to King Vajiralongkorn. A government decision to delay voting on a constitutional amendment in late September fuelled nearly unprecedented public republican sentiment. Following mass protests on 14 October, a "severe" state of emergency was declared in Bangkok during 15–22 October citing the alleged blocking of a royal motorcade. During this period saw the first crackdown by police on 16 October using water cannons.
In November, the Parliament voted to pass two constitutional amendment bills, but their content effectively shut down the protesters' demands of abolishing the Senate and reformation of the monarchy. Clashes between the protesters and the police and royalists became more prevalent, and resulted in many injuries. Protests in 2021 were more sporadic compared to the previous year, with prominent protesters facing charges and the police using harsher tactics. The first protester died in October 2021, with the video showing that he was shot with live rounds by a person inside a police station.
Government responses included filing criminal charges using the Emergency Decree; arbitrary detention and police intimidation; delaying tactics; the deployment of military information warfare units; media censorship; the mobilisation of pro-government and royalist groups who have accused the protesters of receiving support from foreign governments or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as part of a conspiracy against Thailand; and the deployment of thousands of police at protests. The government ordered university chancellors to prevent students from demanding reforms to the monarchy and to identify student protest leaders. Protests since October, when the King had returned to the country from Germany, resulted in the deployment of the military, riot police, and mass arrests. In November 2021, the Constitutional Court ruled that demands for reform of the monarchy were unconstitutional and ordered an end to all movements. The ruling has been likened to judicial coup.
By the end of 2021, the leading figures Arnon Nampa, Panupong Jadnok, Parit Chiwarak, Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, and Benja Apan were all detained awaiting trial in series of detainments and releases, some were imprisoned accumulatively for more than 200 days since 2020, after Prayut declared the use of all laws, including lèse-majesté, against the protesters. By 2022, street protests largely died down due to government suppression and internal divisions, without any demands responded, although small-scale and online activism continued.
The protests were identified, as early as in 2020, as "Gen Z protests".
In Thailand, protests began in early 2020 with demonstrations against the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. They later expanded to include the unprecedented demands for reform of the Thai monarchy. The protests were initially triggered by the dissolution of the Future Forward Party (FFP) in late February 2020 which was critical of Prayut, the changes to the Thai constitution in 2017, and the country's political landscape that it gave rise to.
This first wave of protests was held exclusively on academic campuses and was brought to a halt by the COVID-19 pandemic. Protests resumed on 18 July 2020 with a large demonstration organised under the Free Youth umbrella at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok. Three demands were presented to the Government of Thailand: the dissolution of parliament, ending intimidation of the people, and the drafting of a new constitution. The July protests were triggered by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and enforcement of the lockdown Emergency Decree and spread nationwide. The protesters were mostly students and young people without an overall leader.
On 3 August, two student groups publicly raised demands to reform the monarchy, breaking a long taboo of publicly criticising the monarchy. A week later, ten demands for monarchy reform were declared. A 19 September rally saw 5,000–10,000 protesters and has been described as an open challenge to King Vajiralongkorn. A government decision to delay voting on a constitutional amendment in late September fuelled nearly unprecedented public republican sentiment. Following mass protests on 14 October, a "severe" state of emergency was declared in Bangkok during 15–22 October citing the alleged blocking of a royal motorcade. During this period saw the first crackdown by police on 16 October using water cannons.
In November, the Parliament voted to pass two constitutional amendment bills, but their content effectively shut down the protesters' demands of abolishing the Senate and reformation of the monarchy. Clashes between the protesters and the police and royalists became more prevalent, and resulted in many injuries. Protests in 2021 were more sporadic compared to the previous year, with prominent protesters facing charges and the police using harsher tactics. The first protester died in October 2021, with the video showing that he was shot with live rounds by a person inside a police station.
Government responses included filing criminal charges using the Emergency Decree; arbitrary detention and police intimidation; delaying tactics; the deployment of military information warfare units; media censorship; the mobilisation of pro-government and royalist groups who have accused the protesters of receiving support from foreign governments or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as part of a conspiracy against Thailand; and the deployment of thousands of police at protests. The government ordered university chancellors to prevent students from demanding reforms to the monarchy and to identify student protest leaders. Protests since October, when the King had returned to the country from Germany, resulted in the deployment of the military, riot police, and mass arrests. In November 2021, the Constitutional Court ruled that demands for reform of the monarchy were unconstitutional and ordered an end to all movements. The ruling has been likened to judicial coup.
By the end of 2021, the leading figures Arnon Nampa, Panupong Jadnok, Parit Chiwarak, Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, and Benja Apan were all detained awaiting trial in series of detainments and releases, some were imprisoned accumulatively for more than 200 days since 2020, after Prayut declared the use of all laws, including lèse-majesté, against the protesters. By 2022, street protests largely died down due to government suppression and internal divisions, without any demands responded, although small-scale and online activism continued.
The protests were identified, as early as in 2020, as "Gen Z protests".
Background
Direct causes
Over the previous 90 years in Thailand, elected governments have frequently been overthrown by military coups. Thirteen successful coups have occurred since the end of absolute monarchy in the revolution of 1932. As head of the Royal Thai Army, Prayut Chan-o-cha instigated the most recent coup in 2014, and was leader of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), the military junta which came to power following the coup. Prayut was eventually appointed prime minister and, together with the NCPO, ruled the country for five years, during which political and civil rights were restricted and economic inequality widened. A disputed referendum, widely called unfree and unfair, was held in 2016 to approve a new military-drafted constitution. Analysts have described the new constitution as favouring the military and disadvantaging large political parties. It includes a junta-appointed Senate, empowered to vote for the prime minister for five years, allowing the military to select two prime ministers in the future, and binds future governments to a 20-year national strategy 'road map' laid down the NCPO, effectively locking the country into the period of military-guided democracy with a much reduced role for politicians at both national and local levels.
Prayut's supporters make up a majority of parliament. The 2019 Thai general election, which was considered "partly free and not fair" and an example of electoral authoritarianism, was described as a 'political ritual' that nominally brought an end to the NCPO. The political system was continued with the formation of a new civil-military party, Palang Pracharat Party, which continued the NCPO's policies and orders in a form of competitive authoritarianism. The coalition government is composed of pro-Prayut camps and smaller parties who benefited from multiple technical interpretations of the election law by a military-controlled Election Commission, including a 44-day hiatus while the election laws were reinterpreted to pave way for a coalition with the state military party at the helm. Via NCPO mechanisms, Prayut has appointed allies to the Senate, Constitutional Court, various Constitutional organizations, including the Election Commission, and the National Anti-Corruption Commission as well as officials at the local government level. Substantively amending the Constitution is almost impossible as it would require both Senate support and a referendum. Numerous generals, as well as people with historical links to organized crime (e.g., Thammanat Prompao), hold key ministerial positions in Second Prayut Cabinet.
During the 2019 general election, the FFP was received well by progressives and youths, who viewed it as an alternative to traditional political parties and as against the NCPO, revealing a socio-political cleavage along generational lines, i.e., between Thai youth and the ruling Thai gerontocracy. The party won the third-largest share of parliamentary seats. After eleven months of the coalition, an opposition FFP became short-lived when it was dissolved by the Constitutional Court, as the House of Representatives about to debate on motion of no confidence. Former FFP members stressed the regime's corruption and were active in exposing the junta's involvement in the 1MDB scandal.
Underlying causes
Further sources of grievance, many of which the FFP championed, include abortion rights; authoritarianism in Thai schools (including hazing); education reform; labour rights (trade unionism); military reform (e.g., ending conscription and reducing the defense budget, including the purchase of submarines), monopolies (e.g., alcohol), and women's rights.
Criticism of the monarchy was quite rare during the 70-year reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, which ended in 2016. After the period of decreased status of the monarchy during Khana Ratsadon era, he restored influence and respect to the throne, which helped define the modern Thai political landscape. Since assuming the throne, King Vajiralongkorn has intervened publicly in Thai political affairs. The King voiced his opinion on the Constitution in 2017, leading to an amendment on the power of the monarchy in the version that had already been accepted in the 2016 constitutional referendum. He became one of the world's richest monarchs in 2018, when he was granted personal ownership of royal assets from the Crown Property Bureau (CPB), valued at approximately US$40 billion, which was formerly legally considered publicly owned. He has also consolidated the Privy Council, Office of the Royal Household and Royal Security Office into a single personal office; in 2020, the government transferred two army units to his personal command, giving military control to the monarchy which was unprecedented in modern Thailand. The Royal Office's budget for 2020 was US$290 million, more than double its budget from 2018.
On the eve of the 2019 election, Vajiralongkorn issued a royal announcement urging people to vote for "good people" (Thai: คนดี; RTGS: khon di; i.e., the junta parties), which was re-broadcast the following morning, in an "unprecedented intervention by the palace".:97 This sparked a massive, immediate, negative reaction on Twitter by Thai youth, using the hashtag "We are grown-ups and can choose for ourselves" (Thai: โตแล้วเลือกเองได้; RTGS: to laeo lueak eng dai). Following the election, on 19 July 2019, when the new cabinet was sworn in, they pledged their allegiance to the monarchy, but left out an oath to the constitution, and despite protests, did not correct what was widely seen as a serious breach of the traditional oath of office and a tacit admission of the increasingly absolutist nature of the Thai monarchy. Subsequently, in a ceremony on 27 August, each minister was presented with a framed message of support from the King. He has also been accused of rewriting history as monuments associated with Khana Ratsadon and the revolution of 1932 were demolished.
Vajiralongkorn resides most of the time in the state of Bavaria, Germany. At his request, the Thai constitution was amended to remove the requirement that a regent needed to be appointed. According to the German foreign ministry, the Thai ambassador has been told multiple times that Germany opposes "having guests in our country who run their state affairs from here."
The implementation of the Thai lèse majesté law has been controversial since Bhumibol's reign. The number of cases peaked to an unprecedented scale after 2014 coup. Critics viewed it as a political weapon to suppress dissent and restrict freedom of speech. Even though there have been no new cases since 2018, as Prayut said was the wish of King Vajiralongkorn, other security laws had been invoked in its place, such as the sedition law, the Computer Crime Act, or the offense of being a member of an organized crime group (อั้งยี่), all of which incur comparably severe punishment, and has been using this law as a political manipulation tool. In June 2020, the forced disappearance of Wanchalearm Satsaksit, assumed to be related to accusations of lèse majesté, gained online attention and sympathy. In July 2020, Tiwagorn Withiton, who wore a shirt with the slogan "I lost faith in the monarchy", was subjected to political psychiatry.
Concurrent developments
The government invoked the Emergency Decree on 26 March and issued a COVID-19 related curfew on 3 April in order to limit the spread of the virus. The government additionally issued a travel ban for all foreigners entering Thailand. International rights groups have criticized the emergency decree being employed to suppress free speech. Even though the country has a relatively successful response, as of July 2020, contributed by its robust public health infrastructure, the state of emergency and the severe economic restriction has not been cancelled. The country's significant tourism industry has been heavily affected, leaving Thailand with its worst economic downturn since the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The International Monetary Fund has predicted Thailand's GDP to shrink by 6.7 percent in 2020. The government borrowed and announced a 1.9 trillion-baht (US$60 billion) stimulus package, though few people have actually received it.
Shortly before the second wave protests, on 15 July, netizens were infuriated by privileged treatment to "VIP guests" who were later revealed to be positive for the coronavirus, as well as its failure to boost the heavily affected tourism industry. On the same day, Prayut Chan-o-cha made a visit to Rayong Province. Two protesters held signs calling for his resignation prior to the arrival; both were immediately arrested and reportedly beaten by the police, infuriating many Twitter users.
Other related developments include the suicide of senior judge Khanakorn Pianchana over his frustration due to pressure on his verdicts in favour of military officers, surgical mask profiteering by Thammanat Prompao, delayed COVID-19 welfare money transfers, the government's approval of the Civil Partnership bill (which does not recognize equal status of same-sex couples), and the case against Red Bull heir Vorayuth Yoovidhya.
The protests, however, were limited to individual institutions. A Thai historian scholar noted that street protests have never created political changes if the military sided with the government. The protests, which were organized exclusively on the academia grounds, were halted in late February due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with all universities, colleges, and schools shut down.
Hashtags
The use of online media, such as TikTok and Twitter, including various hashtags, has characterized the protests. Hashtags have emerged for protests at each institution. For example:
Protests at Chulalongkorn University used #เสาหลักจะไม่หักอีกต่อไป (lit. The pillar will no longer be broken; an analogy to the university's tagline as "the pillar of the land.")
Protests at Triam Udom Suksa School used #เกียมอุดมไม่ก้มหัวให้เผด็จการ (lit. Giam Udom doesn't bow to dictatorship; the name "Giam Udom" is an alias of "Triam Udom")
Some have mentioned their distaste of the pro-military and pro-monarchy conservatives (dubbed Salim — สลิ่ม; the word was derived from Thai dessert sarim) such as
Protests at Kasetsart University (KU) used #KUไม่ใช่ขนมหวานราดกะทิ (KU is not coconut milk dessert [referring to sarim.])
Protests at Khon Kaen University (KKU) used #KKUขอโทษที่ช้าโดนสลิ่มลบโพสต์ (KKU is sorry for being late; [our] posts were deleted by salims)
Protests at Mahidol University (located in Salaya) used #ศาลายางดกินของหวานหลายสี (Salaya stops eating multi-coloured dessert [referring to sarim.])