A Thai Army spokeswoman criticized student protesters who rallied in Bangkok and around the country this past weekend in a now deleted Facebook post, prompting criticism and calls for her resignation.
Army Deputy Spokeswoman Nusra Vorapatratorn posted on her Facebook that she did not understand why the students were protesting as there will be elections in two and a half years anyway.
She added that calls by the students to fix the constitution was unfounded and she was confused as to whether the students were opposed to the state of emergency act currently in effect or were the students rallying against the institution.
Student protesters have made clear many times during their rally that the clause in the constitution that they wanted to change the most urgently was the military appointment of 250 senators which protesters say is undemocratic.
Nusra also questioned the students calls for the government to stop harassing its citizens, something which she denied, “If the people don’t break the law then no one can touch them,” she said.
Under the current State of Emergency Act, security officials can stop rallies and organized protests of five or more people. The government said this was necessary to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. The government said there has been no coronavirus case outside of state quarantine in over two months.
Thousands of protesters rallied in Bangkok on Saturday calling for the Prayut Chan-ocha government to resign. The protesters say that the government has two weeks to address their concerns or they will hold more rallies.