Thalu Fah protesters clash with police at Tuesday rally
The “Thalu Fah” pro-democracy group gathered at Ratchaprasong Intersection in Bangkok’s Pathumwan district at 3pm on Tuesday in an anti-government rally that demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
At around 4pm the crowd marched to the Royal Thai Police Headquarters on Rama I Road and reportedly threw bags of pink paint at the front gate.
Crowd-control police responded by using water cannon, managing to drive the protesters back to Ratchaprasong Intersection, after which they formed a line in front of Police General Hospital to prevent the demonstrators from advancing.
Some of the protesters dispersed from Ratchaprasong and at around 5pm regrouped at Sam Liam Din Daeng junction in Ratchathewi district, where they held a rally on Monday in a bid to march to Prayut’s residence on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road, which prompted the police to deploy containers and barriers on the road to block the rallyists.
At 6pm crowd-control police were deployed at Sam Liam Din Daeng to monitor the situation. Protesters reportedly lobbed firecrackers and flares at the officers, who responded by firing tear-gas canisters to prevent the crowd from storming the barriers.
At around 8.30pm the demonstrators retreated to Din Daeng Flats and Pracha Songkro Intersection and later dispersed.
After the rallyists left the area, police reportedly found three unexploded homemade bombs near Victory Monument.
They set up a barrier around the area while waiting for an EOD team to dispose of the bombs.
