Thai student protesters test water as anti-govt anger simmers

Thai students held rare flashmob protests yesterday as anger at the dissolution of a stridently anti-military opposition party bubbles in a kingdom with a long history of raucous street politics.

Universities across the country have seen rallies since the Future Forward Party was dissolved last Friday over an alleged illegal loan by its billionaire founder.

The party won 6.3 million votes in elections last March, earning the loyalty of millennials with its radical agenda to expunge the powerful Thai army from politics.

The flickering of protests comes after several years of quiet enforced by military rule, with groups of high school students joining the march into the streets and calls for more rallies bouncing around social media.

"There is a lot of abuse of power and inequality in this country," third-year student Fon told AFP at a downtown Bangkok campus, where hundreds gathered as evening fell.

"This is my first time taking part in a protest -- but it is necessary," she added.

Analysts say the dissolution of Future Forward -- and the ban of key members from politics including charismatic founder Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit -- could nudge the kingdom back towards mass protests that have scored much of the last 15 years of Thai history.