Thailand: thousands of young people demonstrate against the government
Show of force against the Thai government in Bangkok on September 19.
Here in Sanam Luang Park.
REUTERS / Jorge Silva
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
In Thailand, tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets at the call of students this Saturday, to demand the withdrawal of the government and major changes in society.
But as the movement grows there is now fear of an outbreak of violence.
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With our correspondent in Bangkok
,
Carol Isoux
In the afternoon, the students managed to get inside the closed campus of Thammasat University.
They now have control and are preparing to spend the night there.
On the stage, singers and speakers follow one another.
The demands have not changed: departure of the government, new elections, new constitution, reform of Education and the monarchy.
For months, the movement has turned to a standoff between students and the government, and some fear an outbreak of police violence.
This is the case of Anghana Neelapaijit, famous human rights lawyer in Thailand: “
The police, and especially the officers in plain clothes, should be careful with the use of violence.
We know that there are more than 8000 police officers in uniform mobilized, but we do not know how many infiltrated the demonstrations in civilian clothes
”.
So far, the government has been keen to limit the use of violence, even though several leaders have been arrested and then released.
But things could change if students ally themselves with other forces in Thai society, notably the Red Shirts, peasants in the northeast hostile to the government, or if they attack symbols of the monarchy. .
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