Thai protesters demand prime minister quit over border dispute
Anti-government protesters gather at the Victory Monument in Bangkok to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on June 28. © Reuters
BANGKOK (Reuters) -- Thousands of protesters rallied in the Thai capital Bangkok on Saturday to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, piling pressure on a government at risk of collapse over a border dispute with neighboring Cambodia.
In the largest such rally since the ruling Pheu Thai party came to power in 2023, crowds braved heavy monsoon rain to demonstrate against Paetongtarn, 38, who is also battling to revive a faltering economy and keep a fragile coalition together ahead of a potential no confidence vote next month.
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The Diplomat
2 hours ago
- The Diplomat
Thai Nationalists Hold Large Demonstration Calling for PM's Resignation
Thousands of protesters rallied yesterday in the Thai capital Bangkok, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra over her handling of an ongoing border dispute with Cambodia. The protest, which was held under grey monsoon skies at the Victory Monument, was organized by a conservative nationalist group that accuses Paetongtarn of betraying the Thai people and breaching her oath of allegiance to the country. The Associated Press cited police figures that estimated the crowd at around 20,000, reporting that participants 'held national flags and placards,' while 'speakers took turns blasting the government' from a large stage set up at the base of the monument. 'The participants, many of whom came in the morning, chanted slogans, sang and danced to nationalist songs,' the AP reported. BBC News described the demonstration as 'the largest of its kind since the ruling Pheu Thai party came to power in 2023.' Paetongtarn, 38, has come under intensifying pressure since a recording of a phone call she had with Hun Sen, the influential former Cambodian leader, was leaked online. In the recording, Paetongtarn pressed Hun Sen, whom she referred to as 'uncle,' for a peaceful resolution to the current border dispute, which has intensified since an armed clash in a remote stretch of the border on May 28. She vowed to 'take care of whatever' the Hun Sen needed, and accused a prominent Thai military commander of inciting anti-government sentiment on the border issue and of being 'completely aligned with the other side' (i.e., her domestic political opponents). The leak has cascaded into calls for Paetongtarn's resignation from both sides of politics. It also prompted Bhumjaithai, the second-largest party in Paetongtarn's 10-party coalition government, to withdraw its support from the government. Bhumjaithai has since announced that it will seek a vote of no-confidence in Paetongtarn's government when the House of Representatives returns from hiatus next week. The release of the recording also prompted royalist activists to announce the establishment of Ruam Palang Phaen Din (United Force of the Land), the group that organized yesterday's protest. The group includes many activists involved in 'yellow shirt' protests against other Shinawatra-aligned governments over the last two decades, including the protest movements that preceded military coups against Paetongtarn's father Thaksin (in 2006) and her aunt Yingluck Shinawatra (in 2014). In a statement read aloud before the crowds, the group said 'the executive branch' and parliament were not working 'in the interest of democracy and constitutional monarchy,' and called for other coalition members to abandon Pheu Thai, Reuters reported. 'The time for reform has passed – a revolution is now needed to cleanse the country. But this is not a coup. Reform alone can no longer fix things; it requires a major purge, a thorough cleansing,' said protest leader Jatuporn Prompan, a one-time member of the pro-Thaksin 'red shirts' who turned against the Shinawatras earlier this year. Following the protest, Paetongtarn's Pheu Thai party and the opposition People's Party both claimed that these comments amounted to calls for another military coup, condemning them as a serious violation of the constitution. Paetongtarn was appointed prime minister last year after the Constitutional Court removed her predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, from office over a minor ethical breach. Since then, royalist conservative forces have accused her of inexperience and incompetence, and for acting as a mere proxy for her father, the de facto leader of Pheu Thai. As on many occasions in the past, troubles at the border have been a convenient pretext for mobilizing political and legal campaigns against a Thaksin-aligned government. In addition to the coming parliamentary vote of no-confidence, the National Anti-Corruption Commission has announced that it will launch a preliminary investigation into Paetongtarn's conduct in her call with Hun Sen, after a request from Senate Speaker Mongkol Surasajja. Similar complaints have also been submitted to the Electoral Commission and Constitutional Court. 'We have what looks like a 3-front attack: parliamentary, judicial, and street protests,' Napon Jatusripitak of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute wrote on X this morning. Meanwhile, from Cambodia, Hun Sen has continued to lob rhetorical mortars into the Thai domestic fray. In a three-hour televised address on June 27, he blamed Paetongtarn for ending the 30-year friendship between him and Thaksin, accusing her of 'dishonesty' and 'insults toward her negotiating counterpart' during the border dispute, the Phnom Penh Post reported. The Cambodian politician also claimed that Thaksin was not ill when he visited him in Bangkok in February 2024, and only wore a neck brace and arm sling for the photos that he subsequently posted on his Facebook page. The Supreme Court is currently investigating whether Thaksin faked an illness in order to avoid prison time on corruption charges, following his return to Thailand after more than 15 years of self-exile in August 2023. Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs subsequently expressed astonishment at Hun Sen's attacks, but stressed the need for diplomacy to resolve an escalating bilateral dispute, which has seen the closure of most border crossings between the two nations and threatens to develop into a full-blown diplomatic rupture. 'It surprised us, and it's quite extraordinary in terms of diplomatic norms,' ministry spokesperson Nikorndej Balankura told Reuters. 'Thailand has opened a lot of doors, and I insist that these doors remain open even after what happened this morning.' However, as things stand, the two sides are far from agreeing on the most appropriate venue for settling the dispute. Cambodia has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to rule on four disputed areas along the border, including where the May 28 clash occurred. Thailand has rejected the involvement of the ICJ, which ruled against it in the dispute over Preah Vihear temple in both 1962 and 2013, and is calling for bilateral talks to resolve the crisis.
Yomiuri Shimbun
4 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Iran Says 71 Killed in Israeli Strike on Evin Prison
DUBAI, June 29 (Reuters) – Israel's attack on the Evin Prison in Iran's capital Tehran on June 23 killed 71 people, Iranian judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir said on Sunday. At the end of an air war with Iran, Israel struck Tehran's most notorious jail for political prisoners, in a demonstration that it was expanding its targets beyond military and nuclear sites to aim at symbols of Iran's ruling system. 'In the attack on Evin prison, 71 people were martyred including administrative staff, youth doing their military service, detainees, family members of detainees who were visiting them and neighbours who lived in the prison's vicinity,' Jahangir said in remarks carried on the judiciary's news outlet Mizan. Jahangir had previously said that part of Evin prison's administrative building had been damaged in the attack and people were killed and injured. The judiciary added that remaining detainees had been transferred to other prisons in Tehran province. Evin prison holds a number of foreign nationals, including two French citizens detained for three years. 'The strike targeting Evin prison in Tehran, put our citizens Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris in danger. It is unacceptable,' France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot had said on social media X after the attack.
Yomiuri Shimbun
4 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Hong Kong's Last Active Pro-Democracy Group Says It Will Disband Amid Security Crackdown
HONG KONG, June 29 (Reuters) – Hong Kong's League of Social Democrats said on Sunday that it would disband amid 'immense political pressure' from a five year-long national security crackdown, leaving the China-ruled city with no formal pro-democracy opposition presence. The LSD becomes the third major opposition party to shutter in Hong Kong in the past two years. Co-founded in 2006 by former lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung as a radical wing of the pro-democracy camp, the LSD is the last group in Hong Kong to stage small protests this year. Mass public gatherings and marches spearheaded by political and civil society groups had been common in Hong Kong until 2020, but the threat of prosecution has largely shut down organized protests since. China imposed a national security law on the former British colony in 2020, punishing offences like subversion with possible life imprisonment following mass pro-democracy protests in 2019. A second set of laws, known as Article 23, was passed in 2024 by the city's pro-Beijing legislature covering crimes such as sedition and treason. Current chair Chan Po-ying said the group had been 'left with no choice' and after considering the safety of party members had decided to shutdown. Chan declined to specify what pressures they had faced. 'We have endured hardships of internal disputes and the near total imprisonment of our leadership while witnessing the erosion of civil society, the fading of grassroots voices, the omnipresence of red lines and the draconian suppression of dissent,' Chan told reporters, while flanked by six other core members including Tsang Kin-shing, Dickson Chau, Raphael Wong, Figo Chan and Jimmy Sham. In February, the Democratic Party, the city's largest and most popular opposition party, announced it would disband. Several senior members told Reuters they had been warned by Beijing that a failure to do so would mean serious consequences including possible arrests. Earlier this month, China's top official on Hong Kong affairs, Xia Baolong, stressed national security work must continue as hostile forces were still interfering in the city. 'We must clearly see that the anti-China and Hong Kong chaos elements are still ruthless and are renewing various forms of soft resistance,' Xia said in a speech in Hong Kong. The League of Social Democrats is one of Hong Kong's smaller pro-democracy groups known for its more aggressive tactics and street protests in its advocacy of universal suffrage and grassroots causes including a universal pension scheme. In a 2016 incident, Leung threw a round object at former Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying inside the legislature. Three LSD members were fined on June 12 by a magistrate for setting up a street booth where a blank black cloth was displayed and money was collected in public without official permission. Chan told reporters that the party had no assets to divest and no funds left after several of its bank accounts were shut down in 2023. While never as popular as the more moderate Democratic Party and Civic Party, it gained three seats in a 2008 legislative election – its best showing. The LSD's founder Leung, 69, was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit subversion in 2021 in the landmark '47 Democrats' case. He is currently serving a sentence of six years and nine months in prison. Another member, Jimmy Sham, was also jailed in the same case andreleased in May. The security laws have been criticised as a tool of repression by the U.S. and Britain, but China says they have restored stability with 332 people so far arrested under these laws. 'I hope that the people of Hong Kong will continue to pay attention to the vulnerable, and they will continue to speak out for injustice,' Figo Chan said.
