Thailand’s celebrity fighter: Beer heiress joins protests
Among the 150,000 protesters that took to the streets in Bangkok over the past weeks to oust the Yingluck Shinawatra-led government, a prominent figure stood out: Twenty-seven-year old Chitpas Bhirombhakdi, heiress to a $2.6 billion family fortune, who showed that she is not just a celebrity in Thailand’s elite circles, but can also handle tear gas and rubber bullets, as well as ride on a bulldozer that broke down police barricades.
Chitpas family owns Boon Rawd Brewery, the country’s second largest brewery that makes Singha and Leo beer, among other drinks. The rich heiress is member of the Democrat Party and a staunch royalist not unknown as a campaigner.
On December 2, when the protests in front of Government House in Bangkok turned violent, she climbed on a bulldozer amid tear gas grenade showers and rubber bullet fire. She also volunteered as a medic to help injured poeple.
Chitpas has been a candidate for the Democrat party in the 2011 elections, when party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva presented 30 celebrities and heirs of political families. She was a former staff member of Abhisit’s secretariat office and secretary to the information and communications technology minister since 2009, closely involved in politics.
Among the 150,000 protesters that took to the streets in Bangkok over the past weeks to oust the Yingluck Shinawatra-led government, a prominent figure stood out: Twenty-seven-year old Chitpas Bhirombhakdi, heiress to a $2.6 billion family fortune, who showed that she is not just a celebrity in Thailand's elite circles, but can also handle tear gas and rubber bullets, as well as ride on a bulldozer that broke down police barricades. Chitpas family owns Boon Rawd Brewery, the country's second largest brewery that makes Singha and Leo beer, among other drinks. The rich heiress is member of the Democrat Party...
Among the 150,000 protesters that took to the streets in Bangkok over the past weeks to oust the Yingluck Shinawatra-led government, a prominent figure stood out: Twenty-seven-year old Chitpas Bhirombhakdi, heiress to a $2.6 billion family fortune, who showed that she is not just a celebrity in Thailand’s elite circles, but can also handle tear gas and rubber bullets, as well as ride on a bulldozer that broke down police barricades.
Chitpas family owns Boon Rawd Brewery, the country’s second largest brewery that makes Singha and Leo beer, among other drinks. The rich heiress is member of the Democrat Party and a staunch royalist not unknown as a campaigner.
On December 2, when the protests in front of Government House in Bangkok turned violent, she climbed on a bulldozer amid tear gas grenade showers and rubber bullet fire. She also volunteered as a medic to help injured poeple.
Chitpas has been a candidate for the Democrat party in the 2011 elections, when party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva presented 30 celebrities and heirs of political families. She was a former staff member of Abhisit’s secretariat office and secretary to the information and communications technology minister since 2009, closely involved in politics.
