Thai Prime Minister Sprays Reporters With Sanitizer to Avoid Tough Question
Written by SOURCE on March 10, 2021
Thailand’s prime minister has pulled another bizarre stunt on the press.
According to Reuters, the incident occurred Tuesday at the end of Prayuth Chan-ocha’s weekly press conference in Bangkok, when he was asked about potential changes to his cabinet. Questions of a shake-up have been swirling since last week, after three his ministers were found guilty of sedition for the roles in the 2013-2014 protests against the former government. Prayuth predictably refused to directly answer the question, and insisted he wasn’t familiar with situation.
“Is there anything else to ask?” he said at a podium. “I don’t know, I haven’t seen it. Isn’t it something the prime minister should know first?”
Moments later, Prayuth walked away from the mic and approached the front row of reporters with a small spray bottle of sanitizer in hand. He proceeded to cover his face with a mask, and then doused the reporters with the disinfectant before walking away.
Prayuth came to power in 2014, after leading a military coup against the former government. He is known to lash out at reporters as well as employ amusing tactics to dodge tricky questions. Reuters reports he “previously fondled a reporter’s ear” and threw a banana peel at a camera crew. In 2018, he appeared in front of the press with a life-size cutout of himself and told journalists to “Ask this guy” before sauntering off stage.
