On Monday, around 200 protesters rallied at the Royal Thai Army headquarters blaming the Thai army of wasting taxpayers’ money on procurements and demanding the resignation of Thailand’s Prime Minister and former army chief Prayut Chan-o-cha.
The protests accused the government and the army of inappropriate defense spending and of interfering in politics by supporting Prayuth’s bloodless 2014 attempt of overthrowing the former government, which resulted in Prayuth becoming the current prime minister.
Protesters held signs of detained or missing dissidents and carried placards that read “no coup” and reminded Thai soldiers of their duty to the people.
The rally on Monday followed a protest in Bangkok on Saturday of about 2,500 people.
The protest on Saturday was one of the biggest street demonstrations since the 2014 coup.
The protester called on the government to dissolve parliament, step down and end harassment of its critics.
Critics accuse the Thai military of making sure the deck was stacked in favor of Prayuth during last year’s elections by writing a constitution that virtually secured a win for his party.
Subsequent smaller protests were held on Sunday in Chiang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani, against a coronavirus ban on gatherings.
Since Thursday six of Prayuth’s Cabinet members have resigned.
The resignation comes amid Thailand ranking as Southeast Asia’s worst-performing economy, which Thai central bank states could contract further by 8.1% this year due to the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.