Changes won’t be as dramatic as peasants (prai) storming The Palace of Versailles or The Winter Palace. Instead, it could be as simple as a court’s decision.
With every protest, violence escalates. Protestors won’t let up. Crowd control police have become trigger-happy.
Today at 3pm, the Talu-Fah Group will again gather at Victory Monument. Then, arm-in-arm, they will march to the First Infantry Regiment, where General Prayut Chan-o-cha lives.
In doing so, they will have to go through the Din Daeng Intersection, the site of previous clashes on 7, 10, and 12 August.
At 1pm today, Sudarat Keyuraphan, leader of the Thai Srang Thai Party, will submit nearly 700,000 signatures to the Criminal Court. The complaint is against the Prayut Government for alleged corruption and mismanagement of the COVID-19 situation.
The plan is two-fold: First, keep up the pressures in the street. Second, use the law against the Prayut Regime.
The closest Thailand came to removing General Prayut from power was the court case over his occupancy of a residence inside the First Infantry Regiment.
On 2 December last year, the Constitutional Court cleared him of any wrongdoing.
But today is not last year.
Last December, the Prayut Regime could still congratulate itself for containing the pandemic. But new wave after new wave has proven the government’s failure.
Take the escalating street violence, multiply that by the mismanagement of COVID-19 and the vaccine (plus the alleged corruption), and the faltering economy.
The threat against his regime is real enough. General Prayut is fearful enough that a bill has been proposed to give amnesty to those responsible for COVID-19 and vaccine mismanagement.
If he has been uncharacteristically quiet this week, it’s because he’s busy assembling the best legal team (and other things) money can buy to make sure that not only he won’t be removed from power but also not end up in prison.
2021-08-13