Thousands of protesters have gathered in Bangkok to demand the resignation of Thailand’s prime minister over a leaked phone call with a former Cambodian leader.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra faces growing dissatisfaction over her handling of a recent border dispute with Cambodia involving an armed confrontation on 28 May. One Cambodian soldier was killed.
Therecorded phone call with the former Cambodian prime minister Hun Senled to the protests on Saturday and has triggered a series of investigations in Thailand that could lead to Paetongtarn’s removal.
The call caused anger because of Paetongtarn’s comments about an outspoken regional army commander and her perceived attempts to appease Hun Sen, the current Cambodian Senate president, to ease tensions at the border.
There were about 6,000 protesters, according to Bangkok police. Despite a downpour, they held national flags and placards around the Victory Monument in central Bangkok as speakers took turns attacking the government. Protesters chanted slogans, sang and danced to nationalist songs.
“From a heart of a Thai person, we’ve never had a prime minister who’s so weak,” said Tatchakorn Srisuwan, 47, a guide from Surat Thani province. “We don’t want to invade anyone, but we want to say that we are Thai and we want to protect Thailand’s sovereignty.”
There were many familiar faces from a conservative royalist group known as Yellow Shirts. They are opponents of Paetongtarn’s father, the former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who reportedly has a close relationship with Hun Sen and who was toppled in a military coup in 2006. Rallies organised by Yellow Shirts also helped oust the elected government of Thaksin’s sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, in a 2014 coup.
Hun Sen said on Saturday the border action by the Thai army was a serious violation of Cambodia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, despite the country’s goodwill in attempting to resolve the border issue.
“This poor Cambodia has suffered from foreign invasion, war and genocide, been surrounded and isolated and insulted in the past, but now Cambodia has risen on an equal face with other countries,” Hun Sen told an audience of thousands at the 74th anniversary celebration of the founding of his ruling Cambodian People’s Party in the capital, Phnom Penh.
There is a long history of territorial disputes between the countries. A 1962 International Court of Justice ruling awarded Cambodia the disputed territory where the historic Preah Vihear temple stands and there were sporadic, though serious, clashes in 2011. The ruling from the UN court was reaffirmed in 2013, when Yingluck Shinawatra was prime minister.
The scandal has broken Paetongtarn’s fragile coalition government, losing her Pheu Thai party the support of its biggest partner, Bhumjaithai party. Its departure left the 10-party coalition with 255 seats, meaning it has a slender majority in the 500-seat house.