Fact check: What other anti-monarchy protests have occurred in recent years?

1. Youth Rebellion Becomes a Global Language — Gen Z and the Straw Hat Symbol

Young protesters in Asia have transformed cultural symbols into political tools, notably adopting the 'One Piece' Straw Hat Jolly Roger as a unifying emblem of resistance against corruption and economic stagnation. Demonstrations in the Philippines followed earlier, larger movements in Indonesia and Nepal, where young people mobilized around shared grievances: corruption, lack of jobs, and perceived elite capture of institutions. The Straw Hat flag served both as a meme-friendly rallying cry and a transnational signifier of youth solidarity, underscoring how pop-culture imagery accelerates message diffusion across borders ^{[5] [1]}.

2. Deadly Consequences and Political Upheaval — Nepal’s Crisis

In Nepal, anti-graft protests escalated into a severe political crisis with significant human cost, leaving at least 72 dead and over 2,100 injured, and contributing to the collapse of the sitting government and appointment of an interim leadership. This episode illustrates that anti-monarchy or anti-establishment movements are not merely symbolic— they can precipitate regime change and intense state-society conflict, with youth networks coordinating via platforms like Discord to drive both street-level action and post-crisis political organizing ^{[6] [7]}.

3. Symbolic Outrage in Established Monarchies — Spain and the UK

Anti-monarchy sentiment has also surfaced in established European monarchies through protest symbolism and ceremonial disruptions. In Catalonia, protesters burned photos of King Felipe VI and chanted against the monarchy, reflecting long-standing regional grievances and republican sentiments. During King Charles III’s coronation, organized republican groups staged demonstrations and planned disruptive stunts, treating the jubilee as an opportunity to question royal relevance. These actions highlight a continuity of republican critique within constitutional monarchies that blends historical grievances with modern protest tactics ^{[2] [3] [8]}.

4. U.S. "No Kings" Shows Anti-Authoritarian Anxiety Translated to Symbolic Monarchy Framing

Across the United States, the "No Kings" protests reframed concerns about executive overreach and democratic erosion using anti-monarchy language, with over 1,800 sites participating and local actions in states such as Colorado. Here the monarchy metaphor targets perceived authoritarian tendencies in elected leadership rather than a literal royal institution, revealing how anti-monarchy framing can be repurposed to criticize domestic governance and rally diverse civic actors around rule-of-law demands ^[4].

5. Shared Themes and Divergent Outcomes — From Memes to Mass Mobilization

Collectively, these protests display shared motifs—youth-led energy, anti-corruption demands, symbolic iconography, and digital coordination—yet outcomes vary from largely symbolic demonstrations in Europe to catastrophic bloodshed and government collapse in Nepal. Movements leveraging pop-culture symbols often gain fast visibility but face different state responses; some governments constrain dissent harshly, while others tolerate symbolic spectacle. This divergence underscores the importance of local political structures and state capacity in shaping protest trajectories ^{[5] [1] [6]}.

6. Actors, Agendas, and Information Pathways — Who’s Pushing What?

Protests incorporate a mix of grassroots activists, organized civic groups, and informal online networks. In the UK, formal republican groups organized visible action against a ceremonial monarchy; in Nepal and Indonesia, decentralized youth networks used social media to coordinate large-scale mobilization and influence elite transitions. Each actor brings distinct agendas—constitutional reform, anti-corruption, or broader democratic safeguards—and the choice of symbols (beach balls, pirate flags, "No Kings") signals different tactical aims and target audiences, which also affects media framing and international attention ^{[3] [7] [5]}.

7. What’s Missing from Headlines — Contexts and Consequences to Watch

News coverage emphasizes dramatic imagery and quick narratives, but important contextual threads are often underreported: legal pathways for reform, long-term economic drivers of youth discontent, and the role of external actors or misinformation in escalating protests. Understanding whether movements translate into institutional change or cycle back into repression requires attention to post-protest political engineering, transitional governance, and accountability for violence, especially in cases with high casualties like Nepal ^{[6] [7] [8]}.

Sources: reporting and analyses summarized from provided items ^{[5] [1] [4] [2] [3] [8] [6] [7]}.