Protesters vow to stay 3 days at Govt House

Protesters seize the area outside Government House on Wednesday in a bid to oust Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. (Photo by Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)
Protesters seize the area outside Government House on Wednesday in a bid to oust Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. (Photo by Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)

Protesters declared their intention to stay camped outside Government House for at least three days to put pressure on Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to step down.

Aside from ousting the former coup leader from the premier's post, "Khana Ratsadorn” (the People's Group), -- formerly known as the Free People movement -- are also demanding that the constitution be rewritten and the monarchy reformed.

"We have reached our destination," leader Arnon Nampha declared after the demonstrators -- whose numbers appeared to be in the tens of thousands, although one of their leaders claimed 300,000 -- arrived at the prime minister's office, about four hours after starting their march from the Democracy Monument at 2.40pm.

Protest leaders said they will rally outside Government House for at least three days in their bid to force Prayut to resign.


The rally has largely been peaceful so far, with only minor confrontations with police and a few of the yellow-shirted pro-monarchists, who according to some reports were brought in by authorities.

The royalists lined up along Ratchadamneon Avenue to show their support for His Majesty the King as his royal motorcade moved from Dusit Palace to the Grand Palace for a religious function.

Suwit Thongprasert, formerly known as Phra Buddha Isara, announced that the yellow-shirted group would disperse after the King returned to the palace.

The prime minister was in Pathum Thani to chair activities initiated by His Majesty, and his office will be closed on Thursday.

Vocabulary

  • confrontation: a situation in which people or groups are arguing angrily or are fighting - การเผชิญหน้า
  • constitution: the set of laws and basic principles that a country in governed by - รัฐธรรมนูญ
  • coup: the seizure of power in a country by a group of people, usually members of the armed forces - รัฐประหาร
  • disperse: (of a crowd of people) to separate and leave in different directions  - สลายฝูงชน
  • initiate: to make something start - ริเริ่ม
  • march (noun): a walk by a large group of people to a place to protest about something - เดินแถว, เดินขบวน
  • monarchist (n): a person who believes that a country should be ruled by a king or queen -
  • motorcade: a group of cars traveling with someone very important - ขบวนรถ
  • oust: to force to leave a position of power - ขับออกจากอำนาจ
  • rally: to join a public meeting that a lot of people go to in order to support someone or protest against someone or something - ชุมนุม
  • reform (verb): to improve a system, an organisation, a law, etc. by making changes to it - แก้ไข, ปรับปรุง,
  • royalist (adj): giving support to the royal family of a country -
  • vow: to make a formal and serious promise to do something or to promise what you say is true - สาบาน, ปฏิญาณ
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