Scuffles as Thailand marks political anniversary

Thai police and anti-government activists tussled briefly in Bangkok, on Wednesday, as authorities tried to stop a pre-dawn commemoration of a politically sensitive anniversary.

Police moved in as the demonstrators began to erect a white sheet as a projector screen and tried to pull it down. After a short struggle they relented and let the event go ahead.

Organisers say about a hundred people gathered at Bangkok's iconic Democracy Monument to mark the anniversary of the day in 1932 when a group of progressive army officers and civil servants proclaimed the end of absolute monarchy and the transition to parliamentary democracy.

In steady rain they watched a video re-enactment of the proclamation, played on the makeshift screen.

Two activists stood to the sides dressed in period army uniforms.

They also displayed a replica of a commemorative plaque that was installed in 1936 at the spot where the proclamation took place.

It was removed in secret in 2017, not long after King Maha Vajiralongkorn took the throne, and has never been found or replaced.

No culprit was ever identified.

The gathering was illegal under current emergency regulations, imposed as a measure to counter the COVID-19 pandemic.

There was a large police presence at the venue, in the old part of the city.

But it was a sensitive event in its own right: a direct challenge to the continuing ascendancy of the military in government, and of hyper-royalist sentiment.

It was also a sign that growing political discontent, evident before the emergence of the coronavirus, may be poised to resume.

"Authorities try to delete everything about the anniversary, on 88 years ago, and try to delete how important democracy is in Thailand," prominent anti-government activist Chonthicha Jangrew told the AP, on Wednesday, as the gathering dispersed.

The current government is led by Prayuth Chan-ocha, who, as army commander, seized power in a 2014 coup d'etat.

He returned as prime minister after an election last year that critics deemed free but not fair.

Most of the key positions in the administration are held by former generals, leading to  accusations that all the election did was launder military rule and erode democracy.

In recent years, there has been a steady rolling back of symbols that extoll the 1932 revolution.

As well as the disappearing plaque, statues have been removed and buildings renamed to remove their association with the leaders of the revolt.

(Image Credit Pixabay)