Thousands of protesters rallied yesterday in the Thai capital Bangkok, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra over her handling of an ongoing border dispute with Cambodia.
The protest, which was held under grey monsoon skies at the Victory Monument, was organized by a conservative nationalist group that accuses Paetongtarn of betraying the Thai people and breaching her oath of allegiance to the country.
The Associated Press cited police figures that estimated the crowd at around 20,000, reporting that participants “held national flags and placards,” while “speakers took turns blasting the government” from a large stage set up at the base of the monument.
“The participants, many of whom came in the morning, chanted slogans, sang and danced to nationalist songs,” the AP reported. BBC News described the demonstration as “the largest of its kind since the ruling Pheu Thai party came to power in 2023.”
Paetongtarn, 38, has come under intensifying pressure since a recording of a phone call she had with Hun Sen, the influential former Cambodian leader, was leaked online.
In the recording, Paetongtarn pressed Hun Sen, whom she referred to as “uncle,” for a peaceful resolution to the current border dispute, which has intensified since an armed clash in a remote stretch of the border on May 28. She vowed to “take care of whatever” the Hun Sen needed, and accused a prominent Thai military commander of inciting anti-government sentiment on the border issue and of being “completely aligned with the other side” (i.e., her domestic political opponents).
The leak has cascaded into calls for Paetongtarn’s resignation from both sides of politics. It also prompted Bhumjaithai, the second-largest party in Paetongtarn’s 10-party coalition government, to withdraw its support from the government. Bhumjaithai has since announced that it will seek a vote of no-confidence in Paetongtarn’s government when the House of Representatives returns from hiatus next week.
The release of the recording also prompted royalist activists to announce the establishment of Ruam Palang Phaen Din (United Force of the Land), the group that organized yesterday’s protest. The group includes many activists involved in “yellow shirt” protests against other Shinawatra-aligned governments over the last two decades, including the protest movements that preceded military coups against Paetongtarn’s father Thaksin (in 2006) and her aunt Yingluck Shinawatra (in 2014).
In a statement read aloud before the crowds, the group said “the executive branch” and parliament were not working “in the interest of democracy and constitutional monarchy,” and called for other coalition members to abandon Pheu Thai, Reuters reported.
“The time for reform has passed – a revolution is now needed to cleanse the country. But this is not a coup. Reform alone can no longer fix things; it requires a major purge, a thorough cleansing,” said protest leader Jatuporn Prompan, a one-time member of the pro-Thaksin “red shirts” who turned against the Shinawatras earlier this year.
Following the protest, Paetongtarn’s Pheu Thai party and the opposition People’s Party both claimed that these comments amounted to calls for another military coup, condemning them as a serious violation of the constitution.
Paetongtarn was appointed prime minister last year after the Constitutional Court removed her predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, from office over a minor ethical breach. Since then, royalist conservative forces have accused her of inexperience and incompetence, and for acting as a mere proxy for her father, the de facto leader of Pheu Thai. As on many occasions in the past, troubles at the border have been a convenient pretext for mobilizing political and legal campaigns against a Thaksin-aligned government.
In addition to the coming parliamentary vote of no-confidence, the National Anti-Corruption Commission has announced that it will launch a preliminary investigation into Paetongtarn’s conduct in her call with Hun Sen, after a request from Senate Speaker Mongkol Surasajja. Similar complaints have also been submitted to the Electoral Commission and Constitutional Court. “We have what looks like a 3-front attack: parliamentary, judicial, and street protests,” Napon Jatusripitak of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute wrote on X this morning.
Meanwhile, from Cambodia, Hun Sen has continued to lob rhetorical mortars into the Thai domestic fray. In a three-hour televised address on June 27, he blamed Paetongtarn for ending the 30-year friendship between him and Thaksin, accusing her of “dishonesty” and “insults toward her negotiating counterpart” during the border dispute, the Phnom Penh Post reported.
The Cambodian politician also claimed that Thaksin was not ill when he visited him in Bangkok in February 2024, and only wore a neck brace and arm sling for the photos that he subsequently posted on his Facebook page. The Supreme Court is currently investigating whether Thaksin faked an illness in order to avoid prison time on corruption charges, following his return to Thailand after more than 15 years of self-exile in August 2023.
Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs subsequently expressed astonishment at Hun Sen’s attacks, but stressed the need for diplomacy to resolve an escalating bilateral dispute, which has seen the closure of most border crossings between the two nations and threatens to develop into a full-blown diplomatic rupture.
“It surprised us, and it’s quite extraordinary in terms of diplomatic norms,” ministry spokesperson Nikorndej Balankura told Reuters. “Thailand has opened a lot of doors, and I insist that these doors remain open even after what happened this morning.”
However, as things stand, the two sides are far from agreeing on the most appropriate venue for settling the dispute. Cambodia has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to rule on four disputed areas along the border, including where the May 28 clash occurred. Thailand has rejected the involvement of the ICJ, which ruled against it in the dispute over Preah Vihear temple in both 1962 and 2013, and is calling for bilateral talks to resolve the crisis.