Police said today they are preparing charges against the plastic duck-wielding protesters who bombarded police headquarters with paint and graffiti.
Police spokesperson Krissana Pattanacharoen said early this morning that protesters didn’t obtain permission for yesterday’s rally at Ratchaprasong intersection, which ended with vandalism of the nearby national police building in response to the use of force a day prior outside the Parliament.
Krissana said the police exercised restraint rather than resume the conflict that unfolded nearly six hours on Tuesday.
“Officers focused on avoiding violence and preventing a repeat of the Kiakkai intersection rally from happening again,” he said.
Citing reports that officers were attacked with slingshots, he said investigators were determining how many were injured.
Yesterday’s protest began about 4pm at the commercial heart of downtown. Many people carried plastic ducks they originally intended to float outside the parliament Tuesday in the Chao Phraya River but ended up using as shields against the water cannons.
It was on Tuesday that the police used high-pressure water laced with a tearing agent and fired tear gas to block access to the assembly building where charter amendments were under debate.
People today were complaining that the police applied a double-standard by aggressively using force – dozens were injured – while not interfering with yellow-shirted royalist counter-protesters.
“What a cry baby, you should charge those who attacked the people who came peacefully with chemical-laced water canons,” Facebooker Posathorn Jarungruongsap wrote in a comment about the police announcement. “Don’t forget to arrest the [Yellowshirts] as well. There’s a lot of evidence,” he added, referring to those who came out to call for a coup d’etat seven years ago.
Lawmakers debated charter reforms for a second day yesterday but the proposal favored by protesters did not pass first reading.
The next rally is set for Wednesday at another provocative site: the Crown Property Bureau in Dusit district.
8pm: Protesters threw paint into the Royal Thai Police headquarters in retaliation to the use of force yesterday outside the parliament. #ม็อบ18พฤศจิกา #18พฤศจิกาไปราษฎร์ประสงค์ #ThailandProtest2020 pic.twitter.com/g3mYU7mEVp
— Coconuts Bangkok (@CoconutsBangkok) November 18, 2020
A protester on Wednesday evening climbed to the base of a portrait of the Queen Mother Sirikit in front of the Royal Thai Police Headquarters and sprayed graffiti that reads, “Get out.” #ม็อบ18พฤศจิกา #18พฤศจิกาไปราษฎร์ประสงค์ #ThailandProtest2020 pic.twitter.com/CDBsiT4KGm
— Coconuts Bangkok (@CoconutsBangkok) November 18, 2020
