Public frustration has been mounting over the project since aerial images of several dozen officials’ homes — carved into the green foothills of Chiang Mai’s Doi Suthep mountain — started circulating on social media earlier this year.

On Sunday a huge crowd of protesters, many wearing green ribbons, called for the demolition of the buildings as they marched through Chiang Mai, the biggest city in Thailand’s mountainous north.

“About 1,000 people gathered… since 7:30 am (0030 GMT) to protest against the houses,” Chiang Mai police officer Jirasak Sriprasert told AFP.

Protesters say the mountain, which looms over Chiang Mai and hosts a hugely popular temple believed to hold a relic of the Buddha, is a sacred site and conservation area.

But officials have defended the housing project for judges and other court officials, saying it was carried out legally on a patch of government-owned land adjacent to the national park that covers the rest of the mountain.

The controversy has touched on long-running frustration over special treatment granted to Thai officials and elites — often at the expense of the public and the environment.

“We want the demolition of the houses and a return of the forest,” the rally’s organisers said in a statement on Sunday.

“Bring back the forest to Doi Suthep. Bring back the forest to people.”

The march went ahead in defiance of a ban on protests imposed by the junta that seized power in 2014.

The regime, which says it is preparing a return to democracy next year, has faced a growing number of protests in recent months as impatience mounts over military repression and impunity for the wealthy and well-connected.

This two-year-old elephant has fun teasing his mother, trying to attract her attention in various ways, such as “crying for help” and pretending to collapse.

“Don’t think an elephant cannot lie. You will notice elephants’ lies if you spend time observing Chao Kid’s behaviour,” Prasop Tipprasert, a wild animal expert and a key staff member at the MandaLao, said as he led a group of Thai reporters on a trip through the elephant sanctuary earlier this month.

“When elephants feel like laughing, they will touch the ground. This is about pressing their head against the ground,” Prasop explained. “I brief tourists about elephant behaviour so that they can understand the nature of these amazing animals.Understanding will inspire love and care.”

Prasop and MandaLao co-founder Michael Vogler usually spend about half an hour at a tranquil restaurant with a breathtaking view, briefing tourists about elephant behaviours. During the briefing, snacks made from local produce are served. There are about 100 families living in MandaLao’s neighbourhood and locals get priority when it comes to MandaLao’s hiring needs.

The simple restaurant sits on the bank of Nam Khan River. Sitting on nearly 1,500 rai (240 hectares) of riverside land, MandaLao is setting an example of ethical elephant tourism.

Vogler first came to Laos in 2011. “My background is in wildlife conservation. I find Laos to be an incredibly intriguing place. I came back about four years later with one of my friends and we decided we wanted to move to Laos, so we considered ecotourism, trekking and elephant conservation,” he explained.

“That’s really what separates us from any other camp in Luang Prabang. We focus really on overall welfare. We want the elephants to be healthy, well fed and well looked after,” Vogler said.

This sanctuary promotes elephants’ freedom from hunger and thirst; freedom from discomfort; freedom from pain, injury or disease; freedom to express normal behaviours; and freedom from fear and distress.

Its visitors, therefore, can enjoy elephant moments without hurting the wellbeing of the animals.

MandaLao began operating in 2016, recruiting elephants that used to work hard in logging camps. Among them is Bounpheng, a 38-year-old female.

“Bounpheng is now happy. She is not forced into labour anymore. No chain. No hard work. Here, my Bounpheng is simply strolling, playing and eating,” Wee, the owner and mahout of Bounpheng, said with happiness glittering in his eyes.

At the age of 75, Wee said he did not expect to earn a lot of pay; he only hoped that his elephant was fine.

“If she is happy, I am happy,” he said.

So far, MandaLao is home to nine elephants, with at least Bt15,000 per month spent on food for each pachyderm.

Some of these jumbo animals will greet visitors as soon as they cross the river to MandaLao, which is about a half-hour drive from Luang Prabang.

After a while, visitors take a boat across the river, taking along some sugarcane, sweetcorn or bananas to feed the elephants on the other side.

If it’s early enough, you will see female elephants and a very young male. Each of them has a name, given by their first owner. You can then touch two of the elephants and feed them the corn and cane. But after a few minutes, many visitors want to get closer and closer. It is a safe feeling because the animals are really friendly and have been taught how to communicate with people.

If elephants feel like walking into the river to get wet and cool down, visitors are welcome to join them in bathing.

After that, visitors can walk alongside the elephants to MandaLao.

When the elephants are ready, you can hike with them into the forest, passing the villagers’ corn and eggplant plantations. These crops are grown especially for the elephants.

When you enter the forest, the elephants will walk through a small river and you can walk along the riverbank. Here you’ll feel very much in touch with nature. You’ll observe the elephants walking through the forest with nothing on their backs, showing that they really are wild and independent creatures.

“Our elephants are not chained. Our mahouts do not use hooks,” Prasop said, “Elephants are smart creatures. They can think and carry out various activities on their own.”

Vogler, who has a background in wildlife conservation, said his goal was to ensure the elephants were healthy, well fed and well looked after.

He admitted that he initially did not know much about elephants but he and the other co-founders had a firm determination take care of these creatures in the right way. “That determination gives birth to MandaLao and separates us from others,” he said.

Even without active marketing, MandaLao has attracted a flow of tourists. Recent visitors included Hollywood star Harrison Ford.

Lately, Vogler has discovered that his goals are similar to those of the World Animal Protection (WAP) group, which has waged a “Wildlife, Not Entertainers” campaign to help draw attention to elephants. So, a form of partnership has started.

WAP has recognised MandaLao as a role model in the improvement and development of elephants’ living quality.

“We give advice and support the development of MandaLao to ensure that the captive elephants are able to lead their lives as close to nature as possible,” said Somsak Soonthornna-waphat, the head of the campaign.  To prevent elephants from troubling nearby communities, WAP has financially supported MandaLao in constructing an electric fence.

The fence will release electricity at night to prevent pachyderms from straying. The amount of voltage used is safe for the creatures that MandaLao cherishes.

“We received Bt400,000 from WAP, and the fence stretches for about 600 metres,” Vogler said.

LOOKING from a distance, the Doi Suthep mountain range extends from the north to the south of Chiang Mai province, forming a landscape and ecosystem that expert Manat Suwan describes as unique.

As a human settlement geographer and ecologist, who has surveyed the area to develop a management plan for Doi Suthep-Pui National Park, Professor Manat believes the whole range should be protected and preserved as a watershed for Chiang Mai people.

But that has not been the happy fate of the mountain, which has its ecological roots in the Himalayas, and its forest. For nearly 80 years, it has been divided up, getting various designations under a pastiche of laws, prompting different degrees of protection and utilisation, and resulting in overlapping designations in recent years, or even encroachment of the protected park.

“Ecologically, it’s the same [Himalayan-influenced] ecosystem, which should not be separated and utilised for human purposes, without a single bite into it. The forest is highly biological diverse, fragile to any disturbance for which we could hardly predict the consequences in the years to come,” said Manat.

“Any disturbance I view as being profound,” insisted Manat, who conducted a geographical and ecological survey for the management plan for Doi Suthep-Pui National Park report, published by the Geographical Society of Thailand in 1993.

Protesters plan to rally in Chiang Mai and online http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30344214

The history of conflict

Doi Suthep would not have gained public attention had the Courts of Justice not proceeded with the construction of residences for court officials and an office for the Court of Appeals Region 5 at the foot of the mountain.

Despite claims the land plot of around 147 rai (23.5 hectares) in total had been acquired legally, local residents have cried “foul” over the project, which is worth almost Bt1 billion.

Locals have called for demolition of parts of the residence, which they view as encroaching upon the pristine forest and natural waterways on the mountain.

Besides, the mountain is claimed to be a spiritual place for local people in Chiang Mai and in the North, as it is one of the seven “Chai Mongkol” – an auspicious element for victory – when King Meng Rai built the city over 700 years ago. The spirituality of the mountain was a key element in seeking its designation, along with the ancient city of Chiang Mai, as a Unesco World Heritage Site.

The end of the conflict is nowhere in sight as neither side has stepped back from what they see as their own upright stance.

Chiang Mai residents today plan to hold a major rally to once again demonstrate their opposition to the project.

A scrutiny of the original designation of the area suggests the court would be correct in its claims. State records found show it was first designated the controversial area as part of the “forbidden land” and subject to use for military purposes under a royal decree issued in 1940.

In 1957, the area was registered as “treasury land” with a state land document issued for it and authority assigned to the Treasury Department to supervise land of around 23,787 rai (3,806 hectares) in total.

However, seven years later, the Doi Suthep area – with 108,375 rai in 10 tambons in Muang, Mae Rim, and Hang Dong districts – was classified as a new forest reserve after being designated as land “forbidden” for forestry purposes since 1949.

In 1981 and 1982, the same forest reserve was then declared as the Doi Suthep-Pui National Park, with an area of 163,162 rai or around 261 square kilometres.

However, the park designation did not cover the whole range, leaving outside the scope of its protection several pristine forest plots on the mountain – including the controversial plot for the court.

Prime authorities in charge of those plots include the Treasury Department, which has never |publicly revealed the exact |parameters of the land under its authority.

The National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department has apparently acknowledged the exclusion of lands from protection, remarked one forestry official who works on national park designation.

The official noted that the Parks Department had been attempting to include more of the pristine forest on the mountain into the current protected boundary – a task that he said was “struggling”.

Eating up Doi

Manat’s report has pointed to one of the larger problems created when Doi Suthep was first designated – land occupation by local residents as well as various government agencies.

As stated in the report, at least 30 agencies were occupying over 7,000 rai of the protected park, forcing the National Parks Department to cut the overlapping territories out of public designation. Unauthorised occupation and use by these agencies were also reported.

“It cannot be denied that Doi Suthep national park’s degradation is a result of political and economic influence,” the report said.

According to the department chief, Thanya Netithammakul, the department last year had to exclude the overlapping park area to make way for nine agencies. They included the Agriculture Department, the Highland Research and Development Institute, the Royal Project Foundation, the National Office of Buddhism, and others.

So far, there are no available estimates or figures detailing to what extent the protected forest of Doi Suthep would be further removed for additional public use.

The department’s forest crime suppression taskforce, Phaya Sua, as well as its peer group in the Royal Forestry Department, Phaya Prai, have meanwhile learned that influential figures are involved in a number of new encroachments on the Doi, turning the pristine forests into luxury resorts and residences.

Around 15,000 rai in the national park have so far been occupied pending further examination.

Professor Manat, who has now retired from Chiangmai University’s Geography  Department , is left with the heartfelt hope of seeing the fragmented forest connected once again and put beyond the reach of any political or legal power.

“When we look at the Doi, you can see clearly that it’s the same patch of forest and should be under the same protection from now,” concluded Manat.

The organisers said people nationwide would join the rally by sharing a post, which would be titled “Parallel online rally”, on the Facebook page of the network, demanding the restoration of the Doi Suthep forests.

Pannaros Buaklee, spokesman for the rally organisers, said it was expected that the post would be shared over 10,000 times before the count ended at noon on Sunday.

Speaking at a press conference at noon on Saturday, the spokesman predicted a high turnout of people gathered to demand the restoration of the forest, so the organisers had to prepare measures to protect the demonstrators.

The rally will start at the Tha Pae Gate in Chiang Mai downtown at 7.30am, when the organisers plan to “turn Chiang Mai green” with cyclists and motorcyclists riding in procession and bearing green ribbons.

Thirasak Rupsuwan, a coordinator of the network demanding restoration of Doi Suthep forests, said about 500 cyclists and 200 motorcyclists would join the rally.

The spokesman said the organisers agreed during a meeting on Saturday that the rally would have to be peaceful and it would have to be safe for demonstrators. And at the end of the rally, the organisers would make sure that no rubbish is left behind.

He said the procession from the rally site to the monument of the three northern kings would be “peaceful and beautiful”. The demonstrators plan to march from the Tha Pae Gate to the monument at 10am. The rally is scheduled to end before noon.

Thirasak said the organisers had coordinated with troops and police to ensure security during the rally.

After the end of the demonstration, participants would disperse peacefully and then wait for a decision by the government, Thirasak added. He said if the government ignored the call for the demolition of the residences, the organisers would step up the pressure on the administration.

Thirasak said the rally was aimed at sending a signal to the government that Chiang Mai people wanted the relevant agencies to take urgent action to end the controversy.

Meanwhile, Nikom Puttha, president of the Ping River Network, who has been staging a hunger strike in front of the Appeals Court Area 5 office since Wednesday, has walked from the court to the Tha Pae Gate to continue his hunger strike there and wait for the demonstrators on Sunday.