INTERNATIONAL: Protests rocked Bangkok on Sunday, while the German Chancellor expressed how terrifying Europe’s floods have been. These two stories are dominating international headlines this Monday.
The chaos hit Bangkok as Thai police fired water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets on protesters who were trying to march on the office of the Prime Minister, calling for him to resign. More than a thousand protesters took part despite an expanded coronavirus lockdown. Demonstrators carried mock body-bags to represent coronavirus deaths, blaming the prime minister and his government for mismanaging the pandemic. Police used brute force when some protesters tried to dismantle barbed wire and metal barricades. The protest marked one year since the first of a wave of large-scale street protests led by youth groups. Thailand reported 11,397 new infections and 101 more deaths on Sunday, bringing the country’s totals to 403,386 cases and 3,341 fatalities.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has described the flooding that has devastated parts of western Europe as "terrifying". The death toll across the region has risen to over 188, most of them in the German region of Bavaria. It is the worst natural disaster in Germany in almost 60 years. The European floods began last Wednesday and have swamped much of Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Belgium. Entire communities have been cut off, without power or communications.
And, Oregon’s Bootleg Fire shows no signs of stopping. Raging now for over a week, it has become the state’s fifth-largest blaze in more than a century. It has already scorched an area bigger than New York City. The flames have destroyed at least 21 homes and 54 other structures. A further 5,000 homes are threatened. Almost 2,000 firefighters and a dozen helicopters and airplanes are tackling the fire. Bootleg is by far the biggest of 70 active wildfires currently burning in 12 states. Almost 750-thousand hectares have gone up in smoke.