and for the lavish funds spent on the military monarchy to be diverted instead to fighting the covid pandemic. the police walled off the prime minister's home and much of bangkok's royal quarter. they push the protesters back with volleys of tear gas. a now familiar confrontation we are seeing each weekend despite the government's declaration that such gatherings are strictly forbidden. the grievances that fired up thailand's youth last year have not gone away. if anything, the government's botched vaccine rollout combined with the rapid spread of the delta variant overwhelming hospitals and morgues in a country that largely contained the virus last year, has sparked even wider public anger. the prime minister, who seized power seven years ago in a coup, is seen by many as out of touch and authoritarian. his is one of several governments in this region whose already shaky legitimacy