Thailand protests: Bangkok police HQ targeted after lawmakers reject charter amendments
- Pro-democracy demonstrators staged another mass gathering, led by a clown and a parade of giant inflatable rubber ducks
- Thailand’s parliament accepted only two of seven constitutional amendment drafts, rejecting proposals on reforming the monarchy
The rally came a day after the broadly peaceful movement – which is calling for reform of the government and monarchy – lurched into its worst day of violence as protesters were involved in rolling clashes with police and royalist hardliners outside Parliament House.
“I’m here to send my moral support to the kids,” said Chan, 60, who asked to be identified only by her surname. “I’m very sad to see what happened last night, it was too cruel.”
On Wednesday, at least 20,000 protesters – some of whom were dressed in school uniforms, their ranks later swelled by office workers – massed at Ratchaprasong intersection in downtown Bangkok.
After daubing anti-royal slogans on walls and the road, they marched on the heavily-defended national police headquarters – led by a clown and a parade of giant inflatable rubber ducks. They were accompanied by a Buddhist monk giving the three-fingered salute borrowed from the Hunger Games movies that has become emblematic of the youth-led protest movement.
Some protesters threw glass bottles and paint bombs over the walls of police HQ, which was barricaded with dumper trucks, concrete blocks and razor wire. Others hurled paint at the outside walls, leaving them plastered with bright yellows and blues, while others used water pistols to squirt paint into the compound.