Pattaya protests set to resume Sunday afternoon

October 19, 2020

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Protestors gather at the Bali Hai Pier but were told by police that they could not hold arally there without a permit.

Pro-democracy demonstrators were expected to return to Bali Hai Pier today after police thwarted their efforts at a mass rally Saturday.

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Youthful protestors said they planned to assemble at the South Pattaya jetty at 4 p.m. after applying for a proper permit.

Having been denied permission to rally at Bali Hai Pier, protestors move to the beachfront opposite the Pattaya Police Station to hold their peaceful demonstration.

Organizers had tried to rally Saturday afternoon at the pier before Pattaya police chief Pol. Col. Khemarin Pitsamai announced via loudspeaker that the assembly was illegal as organizers had not applied for a permit that detail the group’s intentions, Covid-19 precautions and other minutia that provided a convenient mask of the Royal Thai Police’s desire to stifle political protest.

Organizers simply picked up their protest and moved it to the beach in front of the Pattaya Police Station. As organizers sat while their application was debated and, as expected, declined, as large group of people, fed by imports from as far as Chachoengsao rallied on the beach.

Protestors shouted for the government to resign, the constitution to be amended and people given “true” democracy. Having been turned away legally by police, organizers called off the event by 8 p.m. and vowed to return to Bali Hai Pier the next day.