A protection system for a thyristor valve composed of a plurality of thyristors connected in series. The protection system includes a forward voltage detection circuit for generating a forward voltage signal, a first reverse voltage detection circuit for detecting that a reverse voltage in excess of a first reverse voltage level is applied to the thyristor to generate a first reverse voltage signal, and a second reverse voltage detection circuit for detecting that a reverse voltage in excess of a second reverse voltage level larger than the first reverse voltage level is applied to the thyristor to generate a second reverse voltage signal. The protection system further includes a protection circuit for detecting a first time period during when the first reverse voltage signal is outputted and a second time period during when the first reverse voltage signal is outputted and the second reverse voltage signal is not outputted, for adding the first and the second time periods to generate an addition signal, for generating a decision signal when the addition signal is smaller than a second predetermined value, and for generating a protection gate pulse based on the decision signal when the forward voltage is applied to the thyristor. The protection gate pulse is applied to all of the thyristors.