<p>The Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Ekachai Hongkangwan and Boonkueanoon Paothong, who were at the 14 October protest where they found themselves in the middle of a police blockade and the royal motorcade of the Queen and the King&rsquo;s son.</p>

<p>Never before have people&#39;s messages about the monarchy, be they satirical or direct, substantial demands for monarchy reform, appeared widely in protests countrywide. But these messages do not make it into the mainstream media due to legal and moral fears.</p>

<p>The Thai Lawyers for Human Rights statement urges&nbsp;state and public to tolerate, respect, protect and upheld freedom of&nbsp;expression toward the monarchy. The peaceful, unarmed expression and questionings are important in democratic regime.</p>

<p>Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) report that a 24-year-old man in Krabi Province was visited by the police who tried to make him sign a document promising not to express any opinion about the monarchy as he had during a past protest.</p>

<p>Students from Kasetsart University and the Mahanakorn for Democracy group organized a Harry Potter-themed protest on Monday (3 August) at the Democracy Monument, calling for amendments to laws regarding the power of the monarchy and for the authorities to listen to the voice of the people.</p>

<p>The Criminal Court has scheduled 14 September to hear the testimony of political activist Karn Pongpraphapan. The prosecutor has brought charges under the Computer Crime Act over comments about the monarchy that allegedly caused public disorder and affected the Kingdom&rsquo;s security.</p>

<p>The national budget bill for 2020 shows that government will spend 29.728 billion baht on monarchy, amounting to 0.93% of the total budget.</p>

<p>2019 is counted as the year when the arc of Thai politics was most striking since it was a time of transition from the &lsquo;dark era&rsquo; under almost 5 years of the NCPO to the &lsquo;hazy era&rsquo; after the election (which had been postponed 6 times) under the 2017 Constitution whose complicated design locked politics into a multilayered parliamentary system, and the Future Forward Party emerged to strongly challenge the old system.</p>

<p>Thai Security Plan admits new generation&rsquo;s bond to the monarchy has weakened.&nbsp;</p>

<div><img alt="" src="https://62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/files/142881/width926/image-20161024-28409-114n5bi.jpg" /></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><span>Under military rule, social order is attained at the expense of economic growth while elected governments usually lead to political turmoil. </span></div>