A large-scale protest rally broke out in Bangkok. US media: Some demonstrators put a plaque "The country belongs to the people" on the grass near the Grand Palace

  [Global Times reporter Huang Xiaona] Thailand has the largest protest rally in six years.

According to Thai media reports on the 19th, some Thai people and organizations organized large-scale protests in Bangkok that day to express their dissatisfaction with the government and call on the authorities to follow public opinion and respond to public demands.

The rally lasted from the 19th to the 20th. After staying overnight at Wangjiatian Square in Bangkok, the demonstrators marched to the Grand Palace next to Wangjiatian Square on the morning of the 20th, and submitted a petition to the Chief of the Bangkok Metropolitan Police Department. The large-scale protest rally that began on the 19th ended.

Demonstration leader "Penguin" Parrit Chiwarak said that protest rallies will continue in Bangkok on the 23rd and 24th of this month.

  According to CNN, the gathering on the 19th was mainly initiated by young students. The gathering place was expanded from the original Hosei University to the nearby Wangjiatian Square area.

Cartoons attacking the government were hung around the rally, and demonstrators satirized the government with performance art.

Organizers of the rally said the number of participants was nearly 100,000, while the Thai police estimated that the number was about 18,000.

In the early morning of the 20th, some protest organizers put a round plaque on the grass near the Grand Palace in Bangkok. The words "The country belongs to the people" were printed on the plaque.

The demonstrators said that when Thailand became a constitutional monarchy in 1932, a commemorative plaque was placed here, but in recent years the commemorative plaque was replaced by another plaque that promoted kingship.

  According to the Thai police, the police deployed thousands of police on the 19th day to maintain the order and safety of the rally, and imposed traffic control on several roads around the rally site.

The Prime Minister's Office of Thailand was also heavily guarded that day, and the surrounding roads were blocked by the police and set up roadblocks.

Thai Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Prayut called on the public not to participate in demonstrations and gatherings in a public television conversation on the 17th, so as not to increase the risk of the spread of the new crown virus.

However, Prayut said on the 18th that he was not "threatening anyone", nor was he pressured, but only concerned about the health of the people.

  In the past two months, there have been protests and rallies led by young people in many parts of Thailand. Their main demands include dissolving the parliament, redrafting the constitution, and stopping intimidating the people. More and more protest groups have proposed reforms to the monarchy. The New York Times reported that the protest rally on the 19th was the largest public rally since Thailand’s 2014 coup and the military government came to power. In Thailand, criticism of the monarchy will be punished by long-term imprisonment. Thailand’s 19 constitutions in modern times have emphasized the supremacy of the king, and no one can complain. Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Law clearly states that those who criticize the royal family will be tried in secret and long-term imprisonment. Since 2014, the above-mentioned laws have been increasingly implemented. Agence France-Presse stated that there were two reasons for the outbreak of large-scale protest rallies: At the beginning of this year, the future Kadima Party, a popular anti-military government party among young Thais, was dissolved by the court on the grounds of accepting illegal donations, triggering dissatisfaction; in addition, The new crown epidemic has led to a slowdown in Thailand's economic growth, and the gap between the rich and the poor in society has further widened, which has also disappointed many young people.