The creator of a YouTube video that led to the site being banned by the Thai Government has removed the clip from the website.

Access to the video-sharing site was blocked by the military-backed Government yesterday after the discovery of a short film that pokes fun at the country’s beloved monarch. The 44-second clip includes pictures of feet over King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s image, a cultural taboo for Thais because feet are considered dirty and offensive. The clip also uses the Thai national anthem as its soundtrack.

The Thai Government has said that YouTube will remain blocked until all traces of the video have been removed. A still image from the video, showing the King's face crudely adorned with cartoonish eyes, remains on the site's search results page.

"We want the picture removed too before we unblock it,” Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom, the Minister of Information and Technology, said. He added that the Government had contacted YouTube and asked for the image to be removed.

All comments attached to the video have been removed and the account of the creator, who used the screen name 'paddidda', has been closed.

Thai officials said yesterday that the video had offended many people in the country. "It’s a serious case of lèse majesté,” Mr Sitthichai said, using the official name for the charge of offending the monarch. “We asked Google [YouTube’s owner] to remove it some days ago, but they refused to.”

According to Mr Sitthichai, thousands of people had called the Government to complain about the YouTube video. He added that access to the website would be unblocked once YouTube had removed the clip.

Thai authorities take insults to the 79-year-old King extremely seriously. A Swiss man was sentenced to ten years in jail last week in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai after he defaced posters of the King during a drinking binge.

Mr Sitthichai gave warning that the Government would continue to block websites that were deemed offensive.

“People who create these [websites] are abusing their rights and clearly don’t mean well for the country,” he said. “We have closed many and will continue to.”

He declined to say how many websites had already been shut or to give the number currently under surveillance. Critics have accused the Government of blocking websites criticising the September coup that overthrew Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister.

However, Mr Sitthichai said that the Government was targeting only sites deemed insulting to the monarchy, as well as those that contained pornographic material.

One of the sites shut down was launched by an anticoup group calling itself Saturday Voice Against Dictators. It has organised a number of protests and demanded that the coup leaders transfer power to a democratically elected government.

Julie Supan, head of global communications for YouTube, said: “We are disappointed that YouTube has been blocked in Thailand and we are currently looking into the matter.”

“The Internet is an international phenomenon, and while technology can bring great opportunity and access to information globally, it can also present new and unique cultural challenges.”

Access denied

— Istanbul courts briefly blocked access to YouTube when Greek users posted videos accusing the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, of homosexuality. It is illegal to criticise Ataturk or Turkishness in Turkey

— Schools in Victoria, Australia, banned the site amid concerns that students were using it as a means of bullying fellow classmates

— When footage was posted of the supermodel Daniela Cicarelli frolicking on a beach with her boyfriend, Brazilian authorities banned access to YouTube. However, the resulting publicity caused the clip’s popularity abroad, and on other sites, to rocket Source: Agencies, Times archives