International media spotlight Thai protests over Hun Sen phone call scandal

Reuters report that thousands of protesters rallied in the Thai capital Bangkok on Saturday to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, piling pressure on a government at risk of collapse over a border dispute with neighbouring Cambodia.

In the largest such rally since the ruling Pheu Thai party came to power in 2023, crowds braved heavy monsoon rain to demonstrate against Paetongtarn, 38, who is also battling to revive a faltering economy and keep a fragile coalition together ahead of a potential no-confidence vote next month.

"She should step aside because she is the problem," Parnthep Pourpongpan, a protest leader, said.

The latest dispute started with a skirmish between Thailand and Cambodia over a disputed patch of border territory in May. Thai nationalist groups called for Paetongtarn to go after she appeared to criticize a Thai army commander and kowtow to Cambodia's former leader, Hun Sen, in a leaked phone call with him.

Public criticism of the army is a red line in a country where the military has significant clout. Paetongtarn apologised for her comments after the call.

Parnthep, the protest leader, said many Thai people felt the prime minister and her influential father, Thaksin Shinawatra, were being manipulated by Hun Sen, a former ally of the family who has turned against them.

'UNG ING, GET OUT'

Blocking the busy intersection at Victory Monument, a war memorial, crowds including many elderly people waved flags bearing Thailand's national tricolor.

“Ung Ing, get out,” the crowd occasionally chanted in unison, calling the premier by a nickname.

Thapanawat Aramroong, 73, said Paetongtarn’s comments about the army commander and seeming eagerness to please Hun Sen were unacceptable.

The demonstration was organised by the United Force of the Land, a coalition of largely nationalist activists who have rallied against other Shinawatra-backed governments over the last two decades.

In a statement read aloud before the crowds, the group said "the executive branch" and parliament were not working "in the interest of democracy and constitutional monarchy".

Remaining coalition partners should quit immediately, they said.

While past protests against the Shinawatras did not directly cause the downfall of those governments, they built up pressure that led to judicial interventions and military coups in 2006 and 2014.

Protester Somkhuan Yimyai, 68, said he did not want the military to end up staging a coup and that previous military takeovers had not "provided solutions for the nation in terms of solving corruption or the government's administration of the country."

ECONOMIC TURMOIL

The political turmoil in Thailand threatens to further damage the country's struggling economic recovery.

The prime minister now controls a slim majority coalition following the exit of former partner Bhumjaithai Party last week. Protesters on Saturday called for other coalition partners to quit.

Paetongtarn also faces judicial scrutiny after a group of senators petitioned the Constitutional Court and a national anti-graft body with a wide remit to investigate her conduct over the leaked phone call.

Decisions from either bodies could lead to her removal.

Hun Sen also launched an unprecedented public attack on Paetongtarn and her family, calling for a change of government, in an hours-long televised speech on Friday, which the Thai foreign ministry described as "extraordinary" while insisting that Thailand prefers to use diplomacy.

AP also reports thousands rally in Bangkok demanding PM Paetongtarn’s resignation over leaked Hun Sen call

Thousands of protesters gathered at Bangkok’s Victory Monument on Saturday to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, following a leaked phone call with former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen that has ignited political uproar.

The controversy stems from Paetongtarn’s handling of a border clash with Cambodia on May 28, in which one Cambodian soldier was killed. Critics accused her of showing weakness and attempting to appease Hun Sen, now President of Cambodia’s Senate, in the leaked conversation—especially in remarks perceived as undermining a regional army commander.

Bangkok police estimated around 20,000 people joined the rally despite afternoon rain. Protesters waved Thai flags and held placards while taking turns on stage to criticise the government. Many had arrived earlier in the day, chanting, singing, and dancing to nationalist songs.

“We’ve never had a prime minister so weak,” said Tatchakorn Srisuwan, a 47-year-old tour guide from Surat Thani. “We don’t want to invade anyone, but we want to protect Thailand’s sovereignty.”

The protest ended peacefully in the evening, but organisers warned they would return if the government failed to act on their demands. The rally drew familiar faces from the conservative, royalist-aligned Yellow Shirt movement—longtime opponents of Paetongtarn’s father, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup. The same group helped topple Thaksin’s sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, in 2014.

On the same day, Hun Sen gave a speech in Phnom Penh accusing the Thai army of seriously violating Cambodia’s sovereignty during the May 28 border incident. “Cambodia has suffered foreign invasions, war, and genocide,” he said. “But now we stand as equals on the world stage.”

Territorial tensions between Thailand and Cambodia are long-standing. The 1962 International Court of Justice ruling granted Cambodia sovereignty over the area around Preah Vihear temple, sparking clashes as recently as 2011. The ruling was reaffirmed in 2013 when Yingluck was prime minister.

The scandal has destabilised Paetongtarn’s coalition government, which lost its largest partner, the Bhumjaithai Party. The Pheu Thai-led coalition now holds just 255 seats—barely above the 250-seat majority threshold in the 500-member House of Representatives.

Paetongtarn is also under investigation by Thailand’s National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), which is probing whether the phone call constituted a serious ethics violation. Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court may soon decide whether to accept a petition for her removal, which could lead to her suspension during the investigation.

The prime minister has denied any wrongdoing, stating, “It was clear from the phone call that I had nothing to gain from it, and I also didn’t cause any damage to the country.”

Her predecessor from the same party was removed from office last year over a separate ethics case. Thailand’s judiciary, especially the Constitutional Court, is widely seen as aligned with the country’s royalist establishment and has a record of using legal mechanisms to unseat governments seen as politically threatening.