The military, after all, has already stepped in to serve as the mediator for the talks between the Court of Appeals Region 5 and opponents of the controversial buildings.

The mediation is scheduled to take place at a military base in Chiang Mai province today.

“We will listen to both sides directly, not via media or social media. We will gather their information and submit it to General Chalermchai, who now doubles as the secretary-general of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO),” Third Army Area’s commander Lt-General Vijak Siribansop said yesterday. Chalermchai has, in fact, already recently responded to the controversy. But he has not yet issued a firm stand.

Initially, he ordered that the building – which is ongoing – be suspended.

Then, he allowed the resumption of construction, suggesting that they were legal and had progressed too far to be scrapped.

However, opponents of the project have refused to buy that argument.

Hundreds of people joined a morning rally against the construction yesterday.

Among the participants were some 300 cyclists riding alongside protestors in other vehicles. Their route took the rally from Chiang Mai International Exhibition and Convention Centre to the construction site.

The participants flew green ribbons to show their stance in favour of protecting forestland. They included activists who have long had differing political ideologies but have now come together for the common cause of protecting the mountain’s environment.

Some cyclists stopped at the building site to tie saffron robes at the under-construction homes for court officials.

Others participants travelled further to areas with a dense concentrations of trees, where they performed sacred rituals to consecrate Chiang Mai’s forests. Critics have claimed the construction encroaches on forestland, while authorities have maintained that |none of the buildings are located on land belonging to the nearby Doi Suthep-Pui National Park.