Brave anti-monarchy protesters defied lengthy jail terms as they clashed with police during the APEC summit in Thailand today.

Demonstrators holding banners calling for the authoritarian lese majeste law - which carries punishments of up to 15 years in prison - faced off with police and state surveillance at a rally in Bangkok.

Some of the those gathered wore t-shirts mocking the Thai king with an image of him in a crop top walking through a shopping mall - a bizarre act that earned him the nickname the 'crop top king'.

Despite the monarch's amusingly lavish lifestyle - jailing his concubine and keeping a harem of 'sex soldiers' in a hotel in Germany during the pandemic - the brutal law has seen activists exiled, jailed or seemingly disappear without trace.

The rally came as protesters clashed with riot police at a rally against the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2022 summit which started in Bangkok on November 16.

The demonstrators gathered at the Asoke intersection in the centre of the Thai capital opposite the Soi Cowboy red-light strip where they criticized the military government.

They were joined by anti-China protesters carrying Winnie the Pooh teddies mocking Peking despot Xi Jinping who is headed to Bangkok from Indonesia today, November 17, following his clash with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, on Wednesday.

One person was injured during clashes with police elsewhere in the city at an anti-APEC rally at Bangkok's Democracy Monument. Footage showed officers in riot gear seizing the group's banners and equipment.

In a joint statement, the anti-government groups Thalufah and Ratsadon said they will be staging rallies denouncing the APEC summit.

They said: 'This summit has only government authorities and representatives from big-name capitalists that monopolize the industries.

'The APEC agreement would bind Thailand to pressure from other countries to implement policies that only benefit venture capitalists, while the public cannot access these benefits at all.'

The groups have secured a permit to hold protests at Lan Khon Muang, but were barred from gathering at the summit venue or the APEC delegates' hotels.

Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt has asked the demonstrators to refrain from disrupting the convention.
Thailand will be hosting the APEC summit this year, with world leaders gathering at Bangkok's Queen Sirikit National Convention Center between November 18 to 19.

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) stated that China's treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang had lead to the 'United States and several other foreign governments' branding China's actions in Xinjiang as 'genocide'.

The United Nations human rights office warned that the actions could 'constitute crimes against humanity'.