Thailand student protest rally goes into night

Thousands of people gathered in Bangkok on Saturday for the most ambitious rally so far in a pro-democracy campaign that has shaken up the government and Thailand's conservative establishment.

The demonstrators packed into a field near the Grand Palace and ignored a Thursday night plea from Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to cancel the event, which he said risked spreading the coronavirus and derailing the recovery of Thailand's battered economy.

The core demands of the protesters, which were first declared in July, were the dissolution of parliament with fresh elections, a new constitution and an end to intimidation of political activists.

They believe that Prayuth, who as then-army commander led a 2014 coup toppling an elected government, was returned to power unfairly in last year's general election because the laws had been changed to favor a pro-military party.

Organisers had predicted that as many as 50,000 protesters will march over two days in an area of the capital historically associated with political protests.

At least 8,000 police reportedly were deployed for the weekend protest.