BANGKOK (Reuters) – #KingKeepFighting was the hashtag used by the embattled Thai prime minister’s operations centre at the weekend on a Twitter post with pictures of a walkabout by King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
Faced by protesters’ calls on Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to quit and the monarchy’s biggest challenge in decades, the royalist establishment is showing signs of attempting to mobilise a counterattack.
The Palace has been silent through months of anti-government protests that have increasingly aimed at the monarchy. But the king on Thursday made a sign of support for former junta leader Prayuth and then on Saturday lauded a royalist demonstrator who had defied protesters.
His supporters took heart.
“Politicians, leaders of enemies of the King – are you ready to flee the Kingdom of Thailand? Your time is almost up,” Rienthong Nanna, leader of an ultra-royalist vigilante group, threatened on Facebook at the weekend.
The protests at first targeted Prayuth before demanding curbs to the monarchy’s powers too. Demonstrations only grew bigger after a week of tough emergency measures to end them.
With Prayuth still the main target for protesters, the king lit the fire at the cremation of the premier’s father on Thursday, nine months after he died.
Then on Sunday, in a widely publicised moment, the monarch expressed encouragement for a man who had defied protesters, telling him: “Very brave, very good, thank you.”
Thais read the signals.
“The king just left no doubt. He’s in this fight and he’s backing his royalist-nationalist supporters against the pro-democracy youth movement,” said James Buchanan, a lecturer at Bangkok’s Mahidol University International College.
Nattabhorn Juengsanguansit, partner at Asia Group Advisors, a government affairs consultancy, said the king’s “actions signal a closer-knit and more aligned establishment.”
“There is heightened tension and a risk of clashes. If the situation worsens, the government could use it as a pretext for a heavier hand,” she said.
The government says it seeks dialogue with protesters, but some of the most prominent are detained.
“It is now time to come together and consider how to move forward,” said government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri.
Protests have so far been largely peaceful. When police used water cannon, it only inflamed anger.
