(Bangkok) Clashes broke out on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific summit in Bangkok, leading to the arrest of 25 protesters opposing Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, police said on Friday.
A protest group planned to join on foot, in a walk of about eight kilometers, the convention center where the leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) have been meeting since Friday.
Clashes occurred shortly after their departure, towards the monument for Democracy, in the center of Bangkok.
For nearly half an hour, about fifty demonstrators threw stones, bottles and shards of glass at the riot police, who responded with smoke bombs and rubber bullets.
Police arrested 25 people on charges of vandalism, assault, arson and obstruction of officers, spokesman Archayon Kraithong told reporters.
PHOTO SAROT MEKSOPHAWANNAKUL, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Demonstrators threw fish sauce at the police.
“We were not able to control the situation, which is why the use of force was required,” he justified.
The scuffles caused 10 minor injuries, according to the Erawan hospital in the capital.
The APEC summit opened Friday in Bangkok, where authorities deployed impressive security to deter protesters from gathering.
Nearly 28,000 police are mobilized for the event which lasts until Saturday and brings together several heads of state, such as Chinese President Xi Jinping and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
Unpopular General Prayut Chan-O-Cha, who became prime minister in the 2014 coup, has yet to announce whether he will stand for the next election due in 2023. Massive pro-democracy protests in 2020 had already demanded his departure.