Students in Thailand are the ones who are most likely to join a movement in this country. I don't know why that is and I don't pretend to speak on their behalf, it just seems to be the case and it is the same in most other countries around the world. Since I am a bit older, I think it may stem from a very undeserved sense of invincibility and lack of concern over repercussions. That's just a guess based on some of the more reckless things I have done in my own life in my 20's. Older people tend to have a lot more to lose such as a career, a family, property etc. Students tend to not have any of these things.
Anyway, moving on.
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Thousands of mostly students gathered on the campus of Thammasat University (one of the largest universities in the country) in order to protest a number of things, mostly the government and the suspicion of rigged elections (rigged by the government.) This protest was approved by campus staff since in order to hold a protest you have to submit what it is that you are going to be speaking about and the staff make the decision on whether or not to allow it based on this. It's a strange way of thinking about holding a protest but that is the way it works here... you can't just protest whatever you want any time you want.
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It would be pretty easy to argue that thousands of people could have had this protest without permission anyway, but then it could potentially become and ugly situation if the police turned up. Understand this though: This is not Portland, while Thailand does have a history of overthrowing the government, protests here rarely turn violent. The coup i was witness to was completely bloodless even. So if the police did turn up they would probably just politely ask the students to leave and if they decided not to, they would probably just try to keep as many out as possible. Is that a better way to approach it? I guess so, i dunno.
According to the government and the university, some of the speakers "crossed the line" when they began talking about the Royal Family and how their involvement in governance of Thailand needs to be eliminated.
This is where things are going to get interesting. The police have promised to pursue charges against the people who spoke of these things in public and the university has vowed to ban all political protests on campus henceforth. These are fun statements and all and reeks of authoritarianism the likes of which is EXACTLY what the students are protesting against.
I think it would be very wise for the police to be very careful what they do with their charges less they turn one or more of the speakers into a martyr and thereby increase the global attention and also turn the thousands of protesters into tens of thousands of protesters.
I'm just making a guess here, but if the government and university had simply not reacted to this, it would have drawn less attention to it than what they are doing now. I would bet that these protests grow in attendance numbers and start happening without permission. The people that they are talking about arresting will be released immediately, and the trials, if there ever even is one, will take place in the distant future when no one is talking about this anymore. That's kind of how these things are done here in Thailand.