Thai students pose with ‘dissidents’ in graduation protest

BANGKOK: Some students at Thailand’s Thammasat University posed with cardboard cutouts of well-known critics of the monarchy on Saturday in a protest as King Maha Vajiralongkorn was to present degrees amid growing calls for royal reform. Youth and student-led demonstrations that began in July by demanding the ousting of former junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha as prime minister have increasingly called for curbs on the king’s powers, breaking a longstanding taboo. State broadcaster Thai PBS quoted a source as saying only around half of this year’s 9,600 Thammasat graduates joined rehearsals that are essential for those attending the degree ceremony. Last year, it said, only 10 per cent missed the final ceremony. The Palace has made no comment since the protests began. Prayuth warned students on Friday not to disrupt the graduation ceremonies at Thammasat, long seen as a centre of radicalism. — Reuters