Thailand's 'Yellow Shirts' return to streets demand PM quit
Hundreds of anti-government protesters gathered outside Thailand's Government House on Thursday, demanding Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra resign over a leaked phone call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen that triggered public outrage.
The scandal rocked Paetongtarn's coalition after the Bhumjaithai party, a key partner, pulled out on Wednesday, accusing her of undermining the country and insulting the dignity of the military.
The leaked call, in which Paetongtarn referred to the Thai army's northeastern commander as her opponent and addressed Hun Sen as "uncle" has drawn strong public backlash.
The protest, held in scorching tropical heat, drew mostly elderly demonstrators wearing yellow shirts -- the colour strongly associated with Thailand's monarchy -- who accused the 38-year-old leader of "lacking diplomatic skills" and "endangering national interests".
"I was very disappointed when I heard the (leaked) audio," Kanya Hanotee, 68, a temple worker told AFP.
"She lacks negotiation skills. Who does she think she is? This country is not hers."
Protesters waved Thai flags and placards labelling Paetongtarn a "traitor", and chanted "Get out!" and "Go to hell!" while dozens of riot police stood nearby.
Many in the crowd were longtime supporters of the conservative, pro-royalist "Yellow Shirt" movement, which has fiercely opposed the Shinawatra political dynasty since the 2000s.
Kaewta, 62, a housewife from Bangkok said she joined Yellow Shirt protests near Bangkok's Democracy Monument two decades ago.
"I didn't support any political party. All I knew was that I hated Thaksin and his family," she told AFP.
"Our politicians are all corrupt."
- 20-year battle -
The battle between the conservative pro-royal establishment and Thaksin's political movement backed by its own "Red Shirt" supporters has dominated Thai politics for more than 20 years.
Yellow Shirts, backed by Royalists and business elites, led 2008 protests that shut Bangkok's airports, stranded tourists, and helped topple a Thaksin-linked government.
In 2010, pro-Thaksin "Red Shirt" protesters rallied in Bangkok in opposition to the military-backed government, ending in a bloody crackdown that left more than 90 people dead.
"The power has been passed from her father to her aunt, and now to her," said Mek Sumet, 59, an electrical equipment seller who took part in the 2008 Don Mueang airport occupation.
"She doesn't think of the country but only of herself," he told AFP.
The kingdom has had a dozen coups since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932, and the current crisis has inevitably triggered rumours that another may be in the offing.
Despite Thailand's long history of coups, some protestors openly welcomed the idea of another military intervention.
"I want the military to take control," Kanya told AFP.
"We are thinking long-term. It will be positive for the country."
tak-sjc/pdw/dhw
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
American Press
an hour ago
- American Press
Columbia protester Mahmoud Khalil freed from immigration detention
Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was released Friday from federal immigration detention, freed after 104 days by a judge's ruling after becoming a symbol of President Donald Trump 's clampdown on campus protests. The former Columbia University graduate student left a federal facility in Louisiana on Friday. He is expected to head to New York to reunite with his U.S. citizen wife and infant son, born while Khalil was detained. 'Justice prevailed, but it's very long overdue,' he said outside the facility in a remote part of Louisiana. 'This shouldn't have taken three months.' Email newsletter signup The Trump administration is seeking to deport Khalil over his role in pro-Palestinian protests. He was detained on March 8 at his apartment building in Manhattan. Khalil was released after U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said it would be 'highly, highly unusual' for the government to continue detaining a legal U.S. resident who was unlikely to flee and hadn't been accused of any violence. 'Petitioner is not a flight risk, and the evidence presented is that he is not a danger to the community,' he said. 'Period, full stop.' During an hourlong hearing conducted by phone, the New Jersey-based judge said the government had 'clearly not met' the standards for detention. The government filed notice Friday evening that it's appealing Khalil's release. The Department of Homeland Security said in a post on the social platform X that the same day Farbiarz ordered Khalil's release, an immigration judge in Louisiana denied him bond and 'ordered him removed.' The decision was made by Judge Jamee Comans, who is in a court located in the same detention facility from which Khalil was released. 'An immigration judge, not a district judge, has the authority to decide if Mr. Khalil should be released or detained,' the post said. Khalil was the first person arrested under Trump's crackdown on students who joined campus protests against Israel's devastating war in Gaza. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Khalil must be expelled from the country because his continued presence could harm American foreign policy. The Trump administration has argued that noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be deported as it considers their views antisemitic. Protesters and civil rights groups say the administration is conflating antisemitism with criticism of Israel in order to silence dissent. Farbiarz has ruled that the government can't deport Khalil on the basis of its claims that his presence could undermine foreign policy. But the judge gave the administration leeway to continue pursuing a potential deportation based on allegations that he lied on his green card application, an accusation Khalil disputes. The international affairs graduate student isn't accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia. He served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists and wasn't among the demonstrators arrested, but his prominence in news coverage and willingness to speak publicly made him a target of critics. The judge agreed Friday with Khalil's lawyers that the protester was being prevented from exercising his free speech and due process rights despite no obvious reason for his continued detention. The judge noted that Khalil is now clearly a public figure. Khalil said Friday that no one should be detained for protesting Israel's war in Gaza. He said his time in the Jena, Louisiana, detention facility had shown him 'a different reality about this country that supposedly champions human rights and liberty and justice.' 'Whether you are a U.S. citizen, an immigrant or just a person on this land doesn't mean that you are less of a human,' he said, adding that 'justice will prevail, no matter what this administration may try to portray' about immigrants. Khalil had to surrender his passport and can't travel internationally, but he will get his green card back and be given official documents permitting limited travel within the country, including New York and Michigan to visit family, New Jersey and Louisiana for court appearances and Washington to lobby Congress. In a statement after the judge's ruling, Khalil's wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, said she can finally 'breathe a sigh of relief' after her husband's three months in detention. 'We know this ruling does not begin to address the injustices the Trump administration has brought upon our family, and so many others,' she said. 'But today we are celebrating Mahmoud coming back to New York to be reunited with our little family.' The judge's decision comes after several other scholars targeted for their activism have been released from custody, including another former Palestinian student at Columbia, Mohsen Mahdawi; a Tufts University student, Rumeysa Ozturk; and a Georgetown University scholar, Badar Khan Suri. ___ Marcelo reported from New York. Jennifer Peltz contributed from New York.
6 hours ago
Mahmoud Khalil released from Louisiana jail after 3+ months in ICE custody
A federal judge granted his release on bail, ruling the Trump administration was punishing him over his pro-Palestinian speech.
UPI
6 hours ago
- UPI
Ex-Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil released from ICE detention after judge's order
Pro-Palestinian protesters hold flags and signs seekingh the release of Mahmoud Khaul in New York City on March 10. He was arrested three days earlier and held in Louisiana until his release Friday that was ordered by a federal judge. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo June 20 (UPI) -- Former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil on Friday night was freed from federal detention in central Louisiana after a federal judge ordered his release. In Newark, N.J., U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said that prosecutors didn't provide a legitimate justification for 104 days of detention since March 8 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Syrian national organized campus protests favoring Hamas while enrolled at Columbia University in New York City, which runs counter to U.S. foreign policy. Farbiarz, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, said it was "highly, highly unusual" the government still wanted him detained. "Together, they suggest that there is at least something to the underlying claim that there is an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish the petitioner - and, of course, that would be unconstitutional," the judge said. He was ordered to surrender his passport and travel documents, and restricted to four states and Washington, D.C. While in detention, Khalil missed the birth of his first child in New York in April, and he was allowed to hold him while in custody in May. His wife is a U.S. citizen. Just before 8 p.m. CDT, Khalil walked out of the detention center in Jena, La., about 220 miles northwest of New Orleans, with his lawyers and wearing a kaffiyeh, a symbol of Palestinian solidarity. He said no person "should actually be detained for protesting a genocide," Khalil said. "Justice will prevail." "After more than three months we can finally breathe a sigh of relief and know that Mahmoud is on his way home to me and Deen, who never should have been separated from his father," Dr. Noor Abdalla, Mahmoud Khalil's wife, said in a statement released by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey. "We know this ruling does not begin to address the injustices the Trump administration has brought upon our family, and so many others the government is trying to silence for speaking out against Israel's ongoing genocide against Palestinians. But today we are celebrating Mahmoud coming back to New York to be reunited with our little family, and the community that has supported us since the day he was unjustly taken for speaking out for Palestinian freedom." Alina Das, one of Khalil's lawyers and co-director of New York University's Immigrant Rights Clinic, said: "The purpose of every step that the government has taken in this case has been to ensure that Mr. Khalil remains locked away until he is deported, as retaliation and punishment for his speech." After the birth of his son Deen, he wrote: "During your first moments, I buried my face in my arms and kept my voice low so that the 70 other men sleeping in this concrete room would not see my cloudy eyes or hear my voice catch. I feel suffocated by my rage and the cruelty of a system that deprived your mother and me of sharing this experience. Why do faceless politicians have the power to strip human beings of their divine moments? "Since that morning, I have come to recognize the look in the eyes of every father in this detention center. I sit here contemplating the immensity of your birth and wonder how many more firsts will be sacrificed to the whims of the US government, which denied me even the chance of furlough to attend your birth." He was arrested outside student housing on the campus. On June 11, Farbiarz ordered Khalil's release after determining that the government could no longer detain him over the claim he is a threat to the country's foreign policy. Then two days later, Trump administration said Khalil could be detained because they said he kept some prior work off his application for permanent residency. The judge allowed the detention to continue. The Justice Department wanted him detained until an immigration judge could weigh the matter, claiming tFarbiarz does not have jurisdiction. Farbiarz said it would be a "waste of time" to send the case to an immigration judge who would likely reach his same conclusion. Other pro-Palestinian activists have also been released as their immigration cases go through the courts. In April, Secretary of State Marco Rubio released a memo, citing an obscure provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. The secretary of state can deport noncitizens if the secretary determines their presence in the country would result in "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States." The arrest was carried out by the ICE, which is part of Homeland Security. Khalil, who was born in 1995, grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria and was granted permanent U.S. resident status. H
