Thai protesters hit police HQ with paint, projectiles

AFP, 18TH NOVEMBER, 2020-Thousands of democracy activists marched on Thailand’s police headquarters in downtown Bangkok Wednesday on a second day of protest, after six people were shot during violent clashes.  

The kingdom has been rocked by months of protests demanding changes to the constitution, the removal of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha -- and even changes to the untouchable monarchy.  

Protesters -- numbering more than 10,000 according to an AFP estimate -- packed the Ratchaprasong intersection in the heart of Bangkok’s shopping and commercial district, after their leaders vowed to step up the movement.  After daubing anti-royal slogans on walls and the ground they marched on the heavily-defended national police headquarters -- led by a clown and a parade of giant inflatable rubber ducks.  

They were accompanied by a Buddhist monk giving the three-fingered salute borrowed from the “Hunger Games” movies that has become emblematic of the youth-led protest movement.  

Some protesters threw glass bottles and paint bombs over the walls of police HQ, which was barricaded with dumper trucks, concrete blocks and razor wire, while others used water pistols to hurl paint inside the compound.