BANGKOK, Thailand | A busy crossroads in central Bangkok at nightfall. Bands of young demonstrators clash with the police with slingshots, firecrackers and homemade explosives, turning the streets into a combat zone.
• Read also: Thailand to gradually reopen its borders to vaccinated tourists from November 1
The protest movement that rocked Thailand in the summer and fall of 2020 calling for reforms of the monarchy and society has largely died out, the victim of infighting and the arrest of key leaders.
Despite everything, a hard core, which calls itself “Thalugaz”, still engages in almost daily street fights with the riot police.
Thalugaz, literally “to break the (tear gas)” in Thai, is a loosely organized group of working-class youth, in their twenties, with no formal structure or strategy.
They organized themselves by courier and learned how to make small explosive charges or “ping-pong bombs” using online manuals.
“We gather at the intersection and go up the streets throwing bombs (ping-pong), then they retaliate with rubber bullets,” Fhong, a 17-year-old protester told AFP.
Their radicalism contrasts with the style of last year’s demonstrations, led by students who advocated change through speech, and adopted an inflatable duck as their mascot.
“My friends and brothers have been beaten to the ground by whom? Riot police, ”Thom, 18, told AFP, determined not to let it go. “If the riot police catch us, they’ll kick us and beat us, is that the right thing to do?” “
The movement has collapsed
At the height of the movement a year ago, demonstrations drew tens of thousands of protesters to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha who came to power in 2014 in a coup before being carried out. legitimize by elections in 2019.
Some have gone so far as to criticize the monarchy, demanding that the power and wealth of King Rama X be limited, exposing themselves to very heavy sentences in a country where royal defamation is severely punished.
But the movement collapsed in early 2021 with the ban on gatherings during COVID-19, the arrest of leaders and the emergence of divisions over tactics, ideology and demands.
Today, the young people of the Thalugaz group are focusing on economic and social demands.
“In a country where the gap between the rich and the poor is so wide, the mode of action (policies) may differ from one class to another, even if at bottom their aim is the same: take from the government, ”political scientist Somjai Phagaphasvivat told AFP.
These young people come from families directly affected by the economic crisis due to health measures and the closure of borders due to COVID-19.
“My aunt used to earn 3,000 to 4,000 baht ($ 90 to 120) a day selling goods, but now her income has dropped to 1,000 or 2,000 baht,” said Thom.
He too was affected by the pandemic, when he had to close his auto repair shop in his native province of Surin (northeast).
Today, he earns his living by delivering ice cubes in the capital.
They want their revenge
Despite the agitation, residents feel a certain sympathy for the demonstrators.
“The riot police are aggressive so the young people fight back,” Sirirattana Siriwattanavuth, 32, a restaurant owner, told AFP. “The demonstrators have obviously had enough, some are a little radical and want their revenge.”
Sometimes the clashes escalate and several demonstrators have been seriously injured, as well as the police, one of whom was shot in the head with a copper bullet.
With no sign of a change of government and with young people determined to do battle, the residents of Din Daeng will experience more sleepless nights.
“If he doesn’t resign, we will continue to demonstrate. I won’t give up, ”says Thom.