Bangkok: After a phone call between Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and the former Cambodian leader Hun Sen was leaked, thousands of protestors gathered in the Thai capital, Bangkok and demanded the Prime Minister’s resignation.
Shinawatra was heard addressing Hun Sen as “uncle” in the phone call along with making a comment on a Thai military commander handling the dispute saying, ‘just wanted to look cool and said things that are not useful’, which sparked public anger, also resulting a key partner in her ruling coalition, to quit.
Shinawatra defended herself, saying that the call was a ‘negotiation technique’, while apologising.
Before leaving to visit flood-hit northern Thailand, Shinawatra told reporters it is the people’s “right to protest, as long as it’s peaceful”.
Thousands of protestors gathered around the ‘Victory Monument War Memorial’ in Bangkok, waving flags, holding placards with slogans like ‘PM is the enemy of the state’, braving through monsoon.
BBC reported that the rally was the largest of its kind since the ruling Pheu Thai party came to power in 2023.
The Prime Minister should ‘step aside’ because ‘she is the problem’, said Protest leader Parnthep Pourpongpan.
The United Force of the Land, a coalition of national activists, organised the rally. They have been seen to have protested against other Shinawatra-led governments as well for over two decades. They also read out in a statement that the executive and the Parliament were not working in the ‘interest of democracy and constitutional monarchy’ to the crowd gathered for the rally.
The Constitutional Court will decide on Tuesday whether to take up a petition by senators seeking Shinawatra’s removal for alleged unprofessionalism over the Hun Sen call, or not.
Hun Sen stated that he had shared the audio clip with 80 politicians, and one of them allegedly leaked it. He later shared the entire 17-minute recording on his Facebook page, where it can be heard that the call was about a recent dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, which in turn has led to an increase in tensions between the nations after the death of a Cambodian soldier in a border clash.
(IANS)
