Thai students stage anti-government rally as activist arrested for previous protest

Student activists at Thailand's most prestigious university defied a ban by college administrators and staged an anti-government rally on Friday, as a prominent protest leader was arrested elsewhere for his involvement in a previous demonstration.

Up to 1,000 students gathered in a hall on the campus of Chulalongkorn University in central Bangkok to hear speeches calling for a new constitution, the government to resign and an end to intimidation of critics.

Heavy rain forced a change of venue from an outdoor plaza and may have discouraged attendance.

The rally was banned by the university, which said it allows non-violent political gatherings but was not given enough notice to ensure safety.

Protest organizers announced they would go ahead with the event anyway, even though those taking part were threatened with possible punishment.

"We are fed up with dictatorship, with people's voices being ignored, with activists being harassed by the authorities, with enforced disappearances, with the government siding with the capitalists leaving the rest of the people to suffer, with the law not being applied to the elites, with us the people not holding power," said Sirin Mungchareon, one of the participants.

Activist arrested on sedition charge

The rally was the latest in a series in several major cities around the country.

Several activists involved in organizing earlier protests have been arrested on various charges, including sedition.

Police on Friday stopped a car carrying Parit Chiwarak, also known as Penguin, and arrested him on a sedition charge in connection with a July 18 protest.

His arrest in a northern suburb of Bangkok, as he was reportedly travelling to a protest at another university, was shown in a video on his Facebook page.

The protests have been gaining steam for several weeks but took a controversial turn on Monday, when some speakers at another university north of Bangkok openly criticized aspects of Thailand's constitutional monarchy.

The openness of that challenge to what is traditionally the country's most revered institution sent shock waves through the country. The monarchy is protected by a draconian defamation law that carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.

As a result, the government was pressured to crack down harder on the protest movement, at the risk of stoking further discontent among supporters of the student activists.

The wave of protests has also put pressure on Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha's government, whose competence to run the economy was already in question before the pandemic, with growth struggling in comparison with Thailand's Asian neighbours.

The growing anti-government agitation has mainly taken aim at its perceived illegitimacy.

Prayuth, a former army commander, originally seized power in a coup in 2014. He retained it last year in an election under rules that opponents say were drawn up to all but guarantee his victory.