2025 has been an eventful year in Thailand: a year of changes political watershed moments, from new laws coming into effect to a border war. Here we look back at the year through the lens of our photographers.

Permsap Sae-Ung and Puangphet Hengkham poses for a photo during an event at Siam Paragon shopping mall on 23 January 2025 celebrating the first day the Marriage Equality Act came into effect.

Permsap and Puangphet, who filed a petition with the Constitutional Court in 2019 asking it to rule whether Thailand's marriage law was unconstitutional for only allowing marriage between a man and a woman, were among the hundreds of couples who tied the knot during the event.

A landmark legislation in Thailand, the Marriage Equality Act was approved by the Senate on 18 June 2024 and signed into law on 24 September 2024, with a 120-day moratorum. It amended the Civil and Commercial Code to use “spouse” in place of “husband” and “wife” and “person” instead of “man” and “woman," opening the door for Thai LGBTQ couples to legally register their marriages. With its enactment, Thailand became the first Southeast Asian country to legalise marriage for all.

Protesters being blocked at the gate by parliament security personnel on 5 February 2025 during a protest staged by the People’s Movement for a Just Society (P-Move) and several indigenous right groups as parliament debates the Ethnic Way of Life bill in its second and third reading.

The groups demanded that parliament approves Section 27 of the bill, which would protect the rights of indigenous communities living in areas declared a cultural protection zone as it would indigenous cultural protection zones from some regulations so communities could work with the authorities to manage resources.

Parliament ultimately voted to pass the bill despite criticisms from the civil society network, which withdrew support for the bill following several omissions and changes to core sections, including the use of the term “indigenous” and the exemption of conservation laws in Ethnic Way of Life Protection Areas. Nevertheless, it is the first law of its kind in Thailand and the first step towards protection of indigenous communities.

On 27 February 2025, the Thai authorities deported 48 Uyghur refugees detained at Bangkok’s Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Centre back to China. They were reportedly moved in detention trucks with black-outed windows in the middle of the night.

The police chief later confirmed that the refugees were returned on a request from the Chinese government, while ministers claimed that they agreed to return to China and that no third country had offered to take them.

When an 8.2 magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar in March 2025, the tremors were felt as far as Thailand and caused the collapse of a 30-storey building under construction in Bangkok.

The collapsed building was going to be the Office of the Auditor General’s new headquarters. Over 90 workers, most of whom were migrants, were trapped under the debris and later found dead. The building’s collapse also raised widespread questions about corruption.

Nationalist protesters gathered in central Bangkok on 28 June 2025 to demand the resignation of then-Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra over a controversial leaked call to Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen in which she discussed the border dispute with Cambodia, admitted she is facing domestic pressure from the military, and accused the 2^nd Army Region commander of being an opponent of the government.

The recording was leaked on 18 June 2025 and promptly went viral. It would eventually led to Paetongtarn’s removal from office by the Constitutional Court.

A crowd gathered at parliament on 16 July 2025, while parliament debated amnesty bill for political charges.

Parliament voted against the amnesty bill proposed by the Network for People’s Amnesty, a network of civil society organizations and activist groups. Backed by 36,732 voters and often referred to as the “People’s Amnesty” bill, it is the only bill to explicitly propose amnesty for people charged with royal defamation.

It also voted against a version of the bill proposed by the People’s Party, while passing in the first reading three amnesty bills proposed by the United Thai Nation Party, the Bhumjaithai Party, and a Thai Teachers for the Peoples Party MP who has since joined the Klatham Party.

The royal defamation law has remained the most contentious issue in the debate as several parties maintain that royal defamation defendants should not be granted amnesty. In October, parliament passed in the second and third readings a version of the bill returned by an ad-hoc drafting committee, which prohibits amnesty for royal defamation, while the House rejected an amendment which would opened a door to amnesty for those charged as minors.

According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), 55 people remain in detention on charges relating to political expression. Among them are 31 people detained for royal defamation, 15 of whom are detained pending trial or appeal.

(Photo by Ginger Cat)

Anchan preelert, 69, received flowers from her supporters after her release from the Central Women’s Correctional Institution on 27 August 2025.

Anchan had been found guilty on 29 counts of royal defamation for sharing and uploading on social media clips of an online talk show that allegedly made defamatory comments about the monarchy. 

Anchan was arrested in January 2015, denied bail, and detained pending trial until November 2018. In January 2021, she was sentenced to 87 years in prison, halved to 43 years and 6 months because she pleaded guilty. Her sentence was at the time the longest ever given for an offence under the royal defamation law. She became eligible for early release under a Royal Pardon Decree issued on 29 July 2025 as she is over 60 years old and her sentence has been reduced to under three years by previous Royal Pardon Decrees.

In total, Anchan spent 8 years, 4 months, and 19 days in prison. She is the oldest woman ever detained on charges relating to political expression and has spent the longest time in prison.

While she was held in pre-trial detention, the government agency she previously worked for informed her that it had launched a disciplinary investigation against her because royal defamation is a severe offence. After she was granted bail during her trial, she was told that she had been dismissed for serious misconduct, depriving her of her pension from 39 years of civil service.

(Photo by Ginger Cat)

Students held up a banner accusing former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva of ordering the crackdown on Red Shirt protests in 2010 during Abhisit’s visit to Chulalongkorn University on 2 November 2025.

Abhisit was invited to give a lecture on public policy at the Faculty of Political Sciences. A small group of students challenged his role in the 2010 Red Shirt crackdown. During a discussion with the students, Abhisit claimed he was innocent, referring to a case filed against him by Tharit Pengdit, the former Director-General of the Department of Special Investigation and asserting that the Supreme Court acquitted him.

Previously, the Faculty’s student union publicly questioned the appropriateness of inviting Abhisit to lecture on public policy when in their view, he had demonstrated a failure and neglect of public accountability regarding the 2010 Red Shirt crackdown.

The Walk to the Future march passed through Paholyothin Road on their way to parliament on 9 December to demand a new Constitution.

Called by the NGO Coordinating Committee on Development (NGO-COD) and its partner organizations, the march began on 6 December in Ayutthaya and ended on 10 December at the Democracy Monument.

The civil society has been calling for a new Constitution throughout the year, and despite a Constitutional Court ruling that it is not possible for voters to directly elect members of a Constituent Assembly, they continue to demand an election.

On 10 – 11 December, a joint sitting of MPs and senators debated in its second reading a bill proposing amendments to the 2017 Constitution concerning the amendment process and the formation of a constitutional drafting committee. Chaos erupted during the night of 11 December, after a joint sitting of MPs and senators voted to reject a proposal that future constitutional amendments be approved by a simple majority in the joint sitting, opting instead to revert to requiring support from at least one-third of senators.

In response to the vote, the People’s Party reportedly prepared to file a no-confidence motion. Meanwhile, members of the ad hoc drafting committee decided to pull the bill for further adjustment.

News circulated throughout the night that then-Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul had submitted a draft royal decree to the King requesting dissolution of the House of Representatives. The House was officially dissolved the next morning when the Decree was published in the Royal Gazette.

Nevertheless, Thai voters will be asked in a referendum to take place at the same time as the upcoming general election whether they want a new Constitution.

Chiang Mai students and residents staged a protest in front of Chiang Mai University calling for an end to armed clashes along the Thailand-Cambodia border on 24 December.

Tension has been rising along the Thailand-Cambodia border since the middle of this year, erupting into two waves of armed clashes in July and December. Meanwhile, intensifying nationalism has resulted in threats against Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand, as well as online xenophobia and anti-migrant rhetoric.