Some students at Thailand's Thammasat University posed with cardboard cutouts of well-known critics of the monarchy on Saturday in a protest as King Maha Vajiralongkorn was to present degrees amid growing calls for royal reform.
Youth and student-led demonstrations that began in July by demanding the ousting of former junta leader Prayut Chan-ocha as prime minister have increasingly called for curbs on the king's powers, breaking a longstanding taboo.
State broadcaster Thai PBS quoted a source as saying only around half of this year's 9,600 Thammasat graduates joined rehearsals that are essential for those attending the degree ceremony. Last year, it said, only 10 percent missed the final ceremony.