As activists marked the fourth anniversary of Myanmar’s military coup on February 1, 2025, old protest photos in Thailand circulated online alongside a false claim that Burmese migrant workers were rallying to “demand a 20 US dollars daily minimum wage.” The photos are from protests in 2021 and 2024, and AFP found no credible reports of Burmese migrant workers rallying to demand a pay increase.
“Today: Burmese workers in Thailand got too arrogant; they marched to protest in front of the UN office,” says a Thai-language Facebook post published February 1.
“These Burmese workers demand a 700-baht minimum wage. If any rich companies want to pay them, fine … But even Thai workers are still struggling with just 400 baht a day.”
The post includes three images of protest scenes with Myanmar’s national flag visible in the crowd.
Screenshot of the false Facebook post taken February 4, 2025
The post accumulated more than 9,000 likes and over 15,000 shares. Other posts sharing the same images spread elsewhere on Facebook.
On February 1, Thai and Burmese activists gathered outside the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the military coup.
Lillian SUWANRUMPHAAFP
Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP
Meanwhile, Thai nationalist group Thais Won’t Tolerate held a protest outside the UN office to oppose alleged demands from Myanmar migrant workers (archived link).
The activists claimed Myanmar workers were pushing for a “600-700 Thai baht” (USD$17-20) minimum wage — higher than the Thai minimum wage of 400 baht (USD$11.87) per day.
However, the three photos shared online are old and unrelated to recent events.
First photo
A reverse image search on Google found two of the photos were taken at past demonstrations and originally published by Milk Tea Alliance Thailand, a pro-democracy activist group active since 2020.
The organization originally published the first photo to X on February 28, 2021 with the caption: “Fight for democracy” (archived link).
A representative from the group confirmed to AFP on February 2, 2025 that the image was taken during a protest on February 28, 2021, during which demonstrators marched from Victory Monument to then-Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s residence in Bangkok (archived link).
Among the 2,000 demonstrators was a group of migrant workers from Myanmar protesting the military coup.
Screenshot comparison between a photo shared in the false post (L) and the original photo shared by Milk Tea Alliance Thailand in 2021
Second photo
Milk Tea Alliance Thailand posted the second picture on Facebook during a separate demonstration (archived link).
“This photo was taken during an August 16, 2021, protest against the Thai and Myanmar dictatorships,” a representative of Milk Tea Alliance Thailand told AFP.
Screenshot comparison between a photo shared in the false post (L) and the original photo shared by Milk Tea Alliance Thailand in 2021
Anti-government protestors marched toward the Thai prime minister’s estate in Bangkok to demand his resignation over his alleged mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic (archived link).
Third photo
The third picture traces back to an X post published June 1, 2024 (archived link). Its caption includes #BangkokPride2024.
Screenshot comparison between a photo shared in the false post (L) and the original photo from the 2024 Bangkok Pride parade
A pride parade took place in Bangkok on June 1, 2024, during which protesters called for LGBTQ+ rights, marriage equality and other political causes, including democracy in Myanmar and the Palestinian territories.
The X user shared metadata with AFP that confirms the photo was taken in Bangkok on June 1, 2024.
No reports of 700-baht wage protest
AFP found no credible reports of Burmese migrant workers protesting for a daily minimum wage of 700 baht in Thailand.
Adisorn Kerdmongkol, manager of the Migrant Working Group (MWG), confirmed to AFP on February 4 that there have been “no reports” of such a movement.
Ahead of the coup anniversary, Veera Sangthong, an activist from the Myanmar labour rights group Bright Future, told AFP he submitted a petition with six demands to the United Nations in Bangkok on January 30.
The petition called for recognizing the “Pink Card” (a non-Thai ID) as a valid document for migrant workers, supporting humanitarian aid at the Myanmar border and urging the United Nations to boycott Myanmar’s 2025 election.
“Nowhere in the demands did Myanmar workers call for a 700-baht minimum wage,” Sangthong said.
Screenshot of Bright Future’s petition submitted to the United Nations, provided to AFP by Veera Sangthong
The “600-700 baht” narrative appears to stem from a comment Sangthong reportedly made during an International Migrants Day protest in December 2022. However, it did not reflect any official demand from Myanmar workers (archived link).
According to Thailand’s Ministry of Labour, Thailand’s daily minimum wage ranges from 337 to 400 baht, effective January 1, 2025 (archived link).
