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Thailand's 'Bad Student' Pro-Democracy Protesters Slam Government as
'Dinosaurs'

VOA News

   Thailand's "Bad Students" pro-democracy group took over a downtown
   Bangkok intersection Saturday night, deriding the country's royalist
   government as "dinosaurs" as a kingdom bitterly divided by age,
   politics and attitudes toward the monarchy lurches deeper into crisis.
   Inflatable meteors proclaiming the end of the "dinosaur age" bounced
   across the rally of thousands as protesters in oversized T-Rex suits
   danced to anti-government rap songs, organized by a group of high
   school pupils tired of an education system that elevates rote learning
   and obedience to Thailand's strict hierarchy over critical thinking.
   "The dinosaurs are these government officials who have decision-making
   power over our lives," Pimchanok Nongnual, 19, told VOA.
   "They are stuck in tradition. They're conservative, old-fashioned and
   refuse to change. Their time is up, they must go and open the way to
   other people who are more competent," Nongnual said.
   Thailand, a kingdom with 13 coups in less than a century, has hit
   another dead end, six years after the last coup, which its leaders said
   was meant to end political divisions for good and restore economic
   growth.
   In the last few days alone, though, rival groups of protesters have
   clashed on the streets and police summoned for questioning
   pro-democracy protesters as young as 15, while there are no signs of
   compromise by the royalist establishment, which instead is threatening
   tougher use of the law, especially against any criticism of the
   monarchy.
   The pro-democracy movement wants the former army chief turned elected
   premier Prayuth Chan-ocha and his government to step down, a new
   constitution to replace the current one written by the military, and
   crucial reform of the once unassailable monarchy.

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