UN Human Rights office closely monitoring Thailand protests

The United Nations Office of the High Commission for Human Rights in Thailand has been "closely" monitoring the protests in the country and stresses that people must be allowed to demonstrate peacefully, said UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Friday (local time).

"We've been monitoring the situation closely. In fact, on the ground our colleagues from the Office of the [United Nations] High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) have been observing the protests, routinely engaging with the authorities," Dujarric said during a press briefing.

He added, "We have said many times and many places of the world, people have a right to demonstrate freely. They should be allowed to exercise that right, the right to demonstrate freely and peacefully."

According to Sputnik, protests in the country are now in the third month with thousands of pro-democracy citizens calling for large-scale constitutional reform.

The protesters demand the dissolution of what they call Chan-o-cha's military dictatorship, which took over in a bloodless coup in 2014 but has since remodeled itself into a civilian type.

They also call for a limitation of the monarchy's power and to scrap the strict laws prohibiting criticism of the king, Sputnik reported further.

( With inputs from ANI )