Over two days of video calls earlier this month, about a dozen students from Thailand’s Kasetsart and Mahanakorn universities debated whether to break a taboo that could land them in jail: openly challenging the country’s powerful monarchy, according to two people on the calls.
Protesters on the streets and online have made a growing number of veiled references to King Maha Vajiralongkorn over the last few months as they push for greater democracy, but nobody had dared make a public call for changes at the palace.
The students discussed on the calls a Harry Potter wizard-themed protest and considered stopping short of open confrontation by only mentioning "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," a reference to Potter’s archenemy in the J.K. Rowling books, the two participants said.