Thai police fire tear gas at anti-government protesters

Riot police in Thailand on Saturday fired with water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets at a demonstration calling for Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to step down.

The rally, made up of mainly young people and students, tried to march on the Thai premier’s residence.

They are demanding that he resigns over what they see as his poor handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the economy.

Some of the 1,000 demonstrators launched projectiles at the police, including rocks and fireworks, with the tense stand-off in the Din Daeng area of Bangkok lasting several hours.

Officers then sealed off a road near Victory Monument and responded to push the protesters back.

"We are holding this line," they announced over a loudspeaker.

"Tear gas and rubber bullets were used for crowd control. Our goal is to maintain order," Krisana Pattanacharoen, a police spokesman, told reporters later on Saturday.

State media in Thailand reported that nearly 6,000 officers had been deployed to quell any possible violence.

What are the protesters saying?

Prayuth, a 67-year-old former army chief, has faced similar protests in recent weeks amid criticism that the country’s vaccination rollout is too slow and its health care system is overwhelmed.

His critics argue that funds should be redirected from the Thai monarchy and its military to finance the battle against COVID-19.

They also say that emergency powers are being used by the government as a pretext to stifle dissent.

"I'm worried about the situation but we will have to continue fighting despite the severe covid outbreak," said one 27-year-old protester, who gave his name only as Nat.

"We want Prayuth to resign because people aren't getting vaccines," said a 23-year-old male protester, who only gave his first name "Aom", for fear of repercussions.

"We don't have jobs and income, so we have no choice but protest."

Last year, pro-democracy demonstrations drew thousands of people at the peak of a movement calling for meaningful political reform.

Rising infection rates and sweeping arrests of some of the protest leaders has seen its momentum tail off.

Bangkok and many of its nearby provinces have been put under a tough lockdown for weeks, which has also seen overnight curfews introduced in some areas.

But it has done little to stop the spread of the virus, and hit the Asian nation's key tourism sector.

Authorities reported a new high of 21,838 confirmed cases on Saturday, with 212 more deaths.

What is the overall picture in Thailand?

Overall, Thailand has seen more than 700,000 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic last year, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University from around the world.

As many as 5,800 people have died from the virus there, figures from the top US university show.

Last month, a spike in cases saw the government overhaul its vaccine policy after hundreds of medical workers caught COVID-19 despite receiving two doses of China’s Sinovac jab.

They were first administered in February after Thailand received the vaccines from Beijing.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in July raised concerns about their efficacy. 

The analysis drew upon results from Chile and found Sinovac had just an efficacy rate of 65.9% against the virus.

So Thai officials decided to mix vaccines. Those already jabbed with Sinovac will receive Britain's AstraZeneca vaccine, the only other jab currently available in the country, for their second doses.

The AstraZeneca vaccine was already being used for some first doses.

Only 6.1% of the country’s adult population has been fully vaccinated with two doses of a coronavirus jab.

The United States donated 1.5 million BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine doses to Thailand, but they only arrived on July 30.

jf/csb (AFP, AP, Reuters)