Thousands of people took to the streets of Bangkok to protest, demanding that Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn resign after a scandal over his phone call with Mr. Hun Sen.
About 10,000 people joined a protest on June 28 in Bangkok, Thailand, blocking roads around the Victory Monument in the capital. Protesters carried Thai flags and banners demanding Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s resignation, even criticizing her for “treason”.
The crowd was largely made up of older people and was led by veteran activists of the Yellow Shirt movement, which toppled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Ms. Paetongtarn’s father, in the 2000s.
“I am here to defend Thailand’s sovereignty and to say that the prime minister is incompetent,” said protester Seri Sawangmue, 70, adding that after the scandal over a phone call between Ms Paetongtarn and Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen, he felt he could no longer trust the prime minister.
Thai protesters in Bangkok on June 28.
Jamnong Kalana, 64, said she used to be a member of the Red Shirts, a group that supports Mr Thaksin, but has now changed her views and wants Prime Minister Paetongtarn to resign.
Thai authorities said they had deployed more than 1,000 police and 100 city officials to the protest sites. As of the afternoon of June 28, the protests were still peaceful.
Before leaving Bangkok to visit flood-ravaged northern Thailand, Ms Paetongtarn said people had the right to protest, as long as it was peaceful.
Tensions between Cambodia and Thailand have been rising since a shooting in an area where border demarcation has not yet been completed left a Cambodian soldier dead in late May. Both sides have claimed they acted in self-defense.
The conflict escalated after a recording of a phone call between the President of the Cambodian Senate and the Thai Prime Minister was leaked. Ms. Paetongtarn then faced a wave of backlash not only from the people but also from within the ruling coalition.
