"democracy"

Whether people are masters of country is true yardstick, he says at meeting

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A senior U.S. diplomat urged the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to press Myanmar’s military to stop violence and restore democracy, warning that with COVID-19 surging and hunger increasing, “the longer we delay, the more people die.”

A total of 154 pro-democracy demonstrators from eight protest groups were prosecuted between July 2 and 18, the Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) said on Thursday.

Members of the pro-democracy movement on Friday handed in a letter at the US Embassy in Bangkok to seek support from Washington for their fellow protesters in jail, especially Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak and Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul, who have gone on hunger strike.

The field of flags - 200,000 of them planted across the National Mall which was silent and otherwise empty - was as uplifting as it was sobering. In the silence and the cold, they blew in the breeze as the 46th president was sworn in and the 49th vice president made history.

The Pathumwan Municipal Court granted bail to pro-democracy protester Pasarawalee Thanakitwibulpol of the Mahanakorn for Democracy Group on Thursday morning.

One of the pro-democracy protest leaders, Panusaya "Rung" Sithijirawattanakul, has urged supporters not to panic and to continue the fight, after she was arrested on Thursday morning.

Prominent environmentalist Prasitchai Noonual called for the government to step down at a pro-democracy seminar for southerners on Sunday.

The pro-democracy activist group, “Free People”, gathered in Bangkok’s Sanam Luang on Thursday afternoon to officially announce details of the October 14 protest.

Pro-democracy group “Free Youth” applauded the three students who were brave enough to question the idea of nationalism and the abnormal state the country is in.

The leader of the Free People group, Arnon Nampa, has asked people to join in large numbers the protest scheduled for October 14 at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument, saying it was not enough to only realise the problems facing the country.

The fate of Thailand’s Constitution is hanging in the balance after Parliament last week failed to vote on whether it should be amended. Instead, lawmakers, mainly government MPs and senators, overwhelmingly voted to set up a committee to study charter amendment proposals – a move widely seen as a delaying tactic.