⁍ Thousands of people protested in the centre of Thailand’s capital Bangkok on Sunday in the first demonstration since Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha ignored their Saturday night deadline to resign.
It was also the first major show of force since Prayuth lifted Oct. 15 emergency measures that had been meant to stop three months of protests against the government and monarchy.
The prime minister’s office posted a note on Twitter to say he was not quitting.
He has said the crisis should be discussed in parliament, which is due to hold a special session on Monday and Tuesday

– Anti-government protesters in Thailand have given Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha a deadline to resign—and he didn’t. The leader of the protests, which began in mid-July and have now ballooned to tens of thousands, said Saturday that he would step down by Monday if he didn’t resign by then, Reuters reports. But the military leader, who seized power in a 2014 coup, said in a statement Saturday that he was not resigning and that he would hold onto his position until a new government is in place. Prayuth’s office tweeted Sunday that he was not quitting and that the crisis should be discussed in parliament, which is due to hold a special session on Monday and Tuesday. But his opponents have little faith in an assembly dominated by his supporters. There was no sign of a major police presence around protesters at the Ratchaprasong Intersection, an emotive location for protesters as the scene of bloodshed in 2010 in a crackdown by security forces on anti-establishment protests. A government spokesman said there would be no use of force and called on people to remain peaceful and respect the law. In the relaxed atmosphere, a group of drag queens gathered to put on a show. Protests since mid-July have put the greatest pressure in years on the establishment, particularly with taboo-breaking calls to limit the powers of King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s monarchy. On Monday, protesters are planning to march to the German Embassy in a message to the king, who is currently in Thailand but spends much of his time in Germany. “Going to the German Embassy reflects the evident problem of the king’s exercise of the German law.”