Protesters rally outside 'coup-making' military unit

Protesters occupy Phahon Yothin Road outside the 11th Infantry Regiment for another anti-government rally on Sunday. (Photo by Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)
Protesters occupy Phahon Yothin Road outside the 11th Infantry Regiment for another anti-government rally on Sunday. (Photo by Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)

Protesters rallied outside a key military barracks on Sunday, the latest in a series of anti-government demonstrations.

Thousands of demonstrators marched from Wat Phra Si Mahathat BTS station to the 11th Infantry Regiment, about one kilometre away, on Phayon Yothin Road on Sunday afternoon.

The 11th Infantry Regiment was chosen as a protest venue because in 2019, it was transferred from the army to come under the direct control of His Majesty the King.

The 205-rai area inside the barracks is a training centre for volunteers initiated by the King.

The United Front for Thammasat and Demonstration, one of the groups under the People's Movement umbrella, said the military unit was targeted because it had played a key role in past coups.

During the rally, the protesters demanded reform of the armed fores and the monarchy. They have called for the ouster of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and the rewriting of a new charter to replace the present one, which they say was crafted by the coup makers.

Police warned them they will face fierce resistance if they tried to enter the compound, but rally leaders said they would remain outside. Protest leader Parit "Penguin" Chiwarakasked the protesters not to try to break through the police barricade to enter the barracks.

Vocabulary

  • barracks: a group of buildings where members of the armed forces live and work - โรงหรืออาคารใหญ่เป็นที่พักทหาร
  • barricade: a temporary structure built to prevent someone/something from getting past - แผงหรือแนวรั้วกั้น
  • charter: a constitution - รัฐธรรมนูญ
  • coup: the seizure of power in a country by a group of people, usually members of the armed forces - รัฐประหาร
  • demonstrators: people who march with other people in public to show that they support or oppose something - ผู้ชุมนุมประท้วง
  • initiate: to make something start - ริเริ่ม
  • march (verb): to walk with stiff regular steps like a soldier - เดินแถว, เดินขบวน, เดินสวนสนาม
  • reform (verb): to improve a system, an organisation, a law, etc. by making changes to it - แก้ไข, ปรับปรุง,
  • umbrella: a thing that contains or includes many different parts or elements -
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