Thousands of people demonstrate in Bangkok to demand democratic reforms

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Thousands of students and opponents of the Government of Thailand came this Saturday to the esplanade in front of the Grand Palace in Bangkok

- centered on the powers of the king -,

democratic

.

Police put the turnout at around 20,000 by the end of the afternoon, and organizers raised the number of participants to 100,000, making it by far the largest protest in Thailand since the 2014 coup.

In the late afternoon

that will continue until Sunday and whose speeches with the demands on the Government and the Monarchy will be given at night.

"We are very happy with the participation. This means that our demands coincide with what the people want,"

who is one of the organizers

, told

.

The authorities have deployed a large security device in the old part of the city to try to control the crowd.

With the arm raised and showing three fingers - ring, heart and index -, popular gesture for the saga "the hunger games", the assistants show their defiance to the Government and the prohibition of the authorities.

T-shirts that mock the prime minister,

, accompany banners in favor of democracy and LGTBi pride flags to demand greater rights for this group, among other paraphernalia.

"

and we had to go out to the streets to protest. Although we do not expect an immediate change, we want to say that we are not happy with the government," Sairoung, a 23-year-old who has explained to Efe He has already participated in three demonstrations of this wave of protests that began in July.

Several groups of the so-called "red shirts", followers of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted from office with a coup d'etat, were also present at the conference, which is celebrating its 14th anniversary today.

This transversal protest movement,

, includes among its demands a reform of the Constitution and the dissolution of Parliament that they consider to be the heir of the old military junta (2014-2019), as well as reducing the power and influence of the Army in politics.

However, the thorniest request is to limit the power of the Monarchy, subjecting it to greater constitutional controls and ending the lese majesty law that punishes anyone who criticizes the royal family with up to 15 years in prison, among other measures.

During the demonstration

making a veiled reference to the current monarch, Vajiralongkorn.

"The Mjonarchy must stop interfering in politics. It has been doing it for a long time and this has to end in our generation," said Book, a 28-year-old law graduate who admits that before talking about it he was scared but that now he does it because he cares about his future.

The current king has not inherited the charisma or respect that his father, the late Bhumibol Adulyadej, aroused, and he also spends much of the year in Germany, where he lives with his wife, Queen Suthida, and a royal consort.

For decades no one has dared to publicly ask for a reform of the Monarchy,

which represents a generational break between university students and their parents, many of them against this debate.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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