Thailand’s parliament holds a meeting to discuss the political protest tensions

Thailand’s Parliament commenced a special meeting session on Monday which was to discuss about the rising tension and the pro-democratic protests, drawing the students and other protesters filling the streets of the city, strongly demanding for the resignation of the Prime Minister.

As the session was initiated by Speaker of the House, Chuan Leekpai, only 450 of the overall 731 members of both houses had approved for it in for the meeting. The protests erupted in the city by student-led groups in Bangkok and three other cities have three main demands: the resignation of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the amendment of the constitution to make it more democratic and reforms in the monarchy for making it accountable.

Prayuth stated, “The only way to a lasting solution for all sides that is fair for those on the streets as well as for the many millions who choose not to go on the streets is to discuss and resolve these differences through the parliamentary process.”

The non-voting session of Parliament is anticipated to go on for two days, the protesters have very little faith on the parliamentary path. The protesters have marked that the discussion points presented by Prayuth’s government are not the concerns of the protesters but their criticisms. The discussion was about the risk of spreading Covid-19 in the rallies, crowd interference and deteriorating the images of royal family.

In September, the Parliament was scheduled to have a vote on six constitutional amendments, but instead build a committee to further deliberate on the proposals. The protest organizers have rather planned to march to German Embassy rather than confronting law-makers and counter protesters on Monday, to draw the attention of King Maha Vajralongkorn, who spends considerable time in Germany.