Thailand: the resumption of pro-democracy demonstrations
Audio 02:30
Demonstration in the streets of Bangkok against the government, September 2, 2021 © AP / Sakchai Lalit
By: Carol Isoux
7 mins
In Thailand, after a truce of almost a year, because of health restrictions, the pro-democracy movement is resuming.
Outraged by the disastrous management of the health crisis and by the economic crisis which has thrown millions of Thais into poverty, more and more of them want the government to leave.
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From our correspondent in Bangkok,
Lines of cars of all categories, pick-up vans, plush cars or swarms of small mopeds.
During this special vehicle demonstration, the inhabitants of the northern districts of Bangkok came to say their fed up with the government in place.
Fed up with waiting for vaccines that did not arrive in time to spare the most vulnerable, fed up with the restrictions decided on haphazardly.
In recent months, millions of middle class Thais have fallen into poverty without any government help.
Num explains that desperation turned to anger.
This young demonstrator is dressed all in black to signal that he is part of the guards, volunteers responsible for supervising the demonstrations, often accused by the Thai press of provoking clashes with the police.
We have seen the reluctance of the government to open or close the country, but for them obviously, the urgency of the economic situation is not their problem.
The guidelines are not clear for small businesses, are we allowed to open or not?
To sell what?
Some who have the right connections take advantage.
That is why we all came out today, rich and poor, to say that we are fed up, that this military government must leave.
► To read also: In Thailand, a year later, the pro-democracy movement again in the street
A movement that seems to bring together more
Already last year, the pro-democracy movement had gathered tens of thousands of people in the streets of the country, but the protests had to stop because of the anti-Covid restrictions.
In recent weeks, the protest has taken over and this time, the student leaders, most of whom have already spent long periods in prison for their political commitment, are becoming more discreet.
The movement seems to bring together wider, as Piyarat Jonfthep, one of the leaders of the volunteers, explains.
This time, it's not just “the new generation”, it's not just young people, students, high school students.
There are people everywhere.
We see more and more our uncles and aunts of the “red shirts” returning in processions and long-time leaders of the pro-democracy movement.
It gives a lot of hope, really, to see all these groups so different, together ...
► To read also:
When young people prefer to leave in the face of the excesses of the State
The hope of an alliance between the city and the countryside
A lot of hope in fact aroused by the increasingly marked presence of the red shirts, of the rice-growing peasants of the northeast, whose protest movement paralyzed Bangkok in 2010, before being crushed in blood.
So far, Thai social movements have always failed to realize the dream of an alliance between city and countryside, a key condition for successful regime change.
But the scale of the economic crisis could well create a rapprochement between the new urban poor and the peasants left behind.
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