Andrew MacGregor Marshall@zenjournalist

I’m seeing a lot of posts claiming that undercover military and police are taking signs and banners attacking the monarchy to pro-democracy protests, to discredit the democracy movement. 1/8

 

 

 

I don’t know if this is true. I doubt it, but it could be possible that there is an undercover operation to do this. But we also know that many of the protesters are opposed to King Vajiralongkorn and really did bring signs criticising him to the protests. 2/8

 

If there is an undercover mission to discredit the protest movement by bringing provocative signs, it betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of what the protesters are fighting for. 3/8

 

They are not claiming to be a unified movement whose members all agree on everything, although they have three main demands that most of the protesters support. None of these demands directly mentions the monarchy. 4/8

 

One of their main demands is that people should not be harassed just because they have different opinions, including people who say they have lost faith in the monarchy. This certainly does not mean that all the protesters are against the monarchy. 5/8

 

The attempt to create hysteria about attacks on the monarchy echoes events just before the massacre of students at Thammasat University on October 6, 1976, when royalists claimed students had staged a play depicting the mock-execution of Vajiralongkorn. 6/8

 

  

  

The question of whether the students really did intend their play to send this message remains extremely controversial and I have never been able to decisively resolve it. 7/8 

 

But the key point is that while some protesters are critical of Vajiralongkorn, this does not mean all protesters agree. They are fighting for diversity of opinion — the right to hold different views, without persecution. 8/8