With the parliament this week set to deliberate on motions seeking amendments to the constitution, key protest organizer Free Youth announced that on Tuesday it will hold a “big protest” to put pressure on lawmakers to pass people-oriented charter amendment drafts.
“Come together at the Sappaya-Sapasathan [new parliament of Thailand] from 3pm onwards until the dictators’ slaves concede in amending the people-oriented amendment and bringing down the monarch to be underneath the constitution,” wrote Free Youth in an announcement.
The parliament will return with a two-day session, Tuesday and Wednesday, to decide seven charter amendment drafts. Among the seven, six were proposed separately by coalition parties and oppositions.
The seventh draft, proposed by human rights advocacy group Internet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw) and has amassed more than 100,000 signatures, seeks to amend the entire junta-backed 2017 constitution including by preventing non-democratically elected prime ministers from coming into power, eliminating the junta’s “National Reform Plan,” and calling for senators to be elected by the people.
With thousands of pro-democracy protesters expected at 3pm Tuesday, pro-monarchy royalist group Thai Pakdee said it would have its members and supporters gather at 9am on the same day and the same venue.
