Student-led pro-democracy protesters will rally on Sunday (November 8) at Democracy Monument in Bangkok, according to their Facebook page.On Thursday, the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration (UFTD) and its ally Free Youth urged people to gather at the monument at 4pm for a march to another location, which they did not name.
The protest groups also asked pro-democracy supporters to write letters to His Majesty the King. They urged the supporters to keep pressing the movement’s three core demands as follows:
1. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and his subordinates must quit their illegitimate political roles so as to restore democratic rule with the King under the Constitution.
2. The Constitution must be rewritten for fairer administration of the country. The new Constitution must be written in the interests of all Thais, not just privileged groups.
3. The monarchy must be reformed. This reformation means improvement.
The groups said their political campaign was not a choice, but the only way to pull the country out of its present crisis.
Pro-democracy activist Patsaravalee “Mind” Tanakitvibulpon went to Thungmahamek Police Station in Bangkok on Thursday morning in response to summons for leading protesters to the German Embassy on October 26.
Patsaravalee, who was accompanied by a lawyer from the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, faced the charge of sedition and also underwent interrogation led by Bangkok police chief Pol Lt-General Pakapong Pongpetram.
The protester later told the press that she faces four charges, and one of them includes an arrest warrant. However, she said she was not worried about legal action being taken against her, because she knows it is part of the “government’s game”. She also insisted that her battle for democracy will continue unabated.
A pro-democracy group in Phuket greeted the Cabinet’s arrival on Monday with messages slamming the government.
Messages such as “Phuket pays high tax but there is no development”, “stop encroaching on people”, “unblock Pornhub now”, “our freedom is raped”, “we hate police and soldiers” and “cancel Article 112 [lese majeste] and I will tell you many things”, were projected on buildings across the province.
The group, Khana Ratsadon Phuket, posted images of the messages on its Facebook page and said: “Local civil servants only work during the Cabinet’s visit as a window dressing. They tell government executives that they tackle the problems they have been assigned, but in reality they do nothing and the quality of life of people here has not changed.”
The group said it will no longer endure the current local administration and hopes the government will pay heed to its messages.
The Digital Economy and Society Ministry announced on Tuesday that it has blocked all access to the pornography website, Pornhub, in line with law.
DES Minister Buddhipongse Punnakanta said the decision to block access to the website in Thailand was done after the court’s okay.
Responding to queries from the press, he said he wasn’t worried that people’s hatred of this government will worsen from the closure of the website. He also added that the decision was not related to a clip featuring an important Thai personality that was posted on the website.
Parliament speaker Chuan Leekpai said he had talked to former prime ministers about moves to set up a national reconciliation committee to resolve ongoing political turmoil.
Chuan, himself a former PM, was speaking after receiving the King Prajadhipok’s Institute preparatory study for the reconciliation panel.
The study advised the panel could take one of two forms – representatives from all sides of the conflict (as proposed last week in Parliament), or independent middlemen selected by the different sides.
Chuan said the two proposed structures could be adjusted or merged, adding he would hold talks with stakeholders before making a final decision.
He said he has already consulted three former prime ministers about the panel and would also ask former speakers of Parliament, as well as current opposition leader Sompong Amornvivat, for their views.
“I need time for personal talks with these senior figures,” he added.
It is understood that Chuan has already contacted former PMs Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, Anand Panyarachun and Abhisit Vejjajiva, and will seek more advice on the panel from other ex-national leaders.
Chief government whip Wirat Rattanaset said the government had no objection to the structures proposed by King Prajadhipok’s Institute.
Wirat also rejected protesters’ demand for PM Prayut Chan-o-cha to quit, saying he must stay on to resolve the country’s problems. He said protestors should recognise that the PM was selected by the majority of people in the country.
Protesters have pointed out that former coup-leader Prayut was selected by a joint vote between MPs and the military-appointed Senate.
Bangkok’s Thungmahamek Police Station has issued summonses for pro-democracy activists who led the October 26 march to the German embassy, Passarawalee “Mind” Thanakijwibulpol tweeted on Monday.
The summonses charges Passarawalee and other leaders of sedition under the Criminal Code’s Section 116.
The Criminal Court on Thursday advised the police to issue summonses instead of seeking arrest warrants because the suspects are students who have no intention of escaping.
PEN International is alarmed over the ongoing crackdown against dissenting voices in Thailand and has urged Thai authorities to unconditionally release all those who were detained arbitrarily for their peaceful participation in pro-democracy demonstrations.
Among those targeted by authorities is Arnon Nampha, a poet and human rights lawyer, who was initially arrested in relation to his participation in peaceful protests that took place in August, which included a ‘Harry Potter’ themed rally where Arnon gave a speech calling for an end to the use of the controversial lèse-majesté laws and the reining in of the monarchy’s power in Thailand.
Released on bail on August 20, Arnon was subsequently rearrested for his participation in demonstrations which took place on September 19-20 in Bangkok, and was charged with sedition under Section 116 of the Criminal Code of Thailand. Another activist charged in relation to the protests, Dechathorn Bamrungmuang, is a member of the highly popular group called Rap Against Dictatorship, whose music criticising government corruption has garnered millions of views on social media and a criminal probe by Thai authorities.
These rallies form part of the wider student-led protest movement that has been occurring across Thailand since February 2020. Among the grievances expressed by protesters is the erosion of democratic freedoms under the current government and the existence of the highly punitive lèse-majesté law, which carries a maximum jail sentence of 15 years and has been used to silence public criticism of the monarchy.
Despite the risk of imprisonment for those participating in the protests, Thai police reported that a rally which took place in Bangkok on August 16 drew over 10,000 demonstrators, making it the largest public protest that the country has seen in several years. Over the following months, the protests have continued to grow in size, with estimates of as many as 50,000 protesters participating in a rally on September 19.
In response to the escalating protests, in October the authorities increased the severity of their crackdown by imposing a state of emergency, banning all protests and carrying out over 90 arrests of high-profile activists, including Patiwat Saraiyaem and Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, for whose release PEN International had made appeals previously.
On October 22, several United Nations human rights experts wrote a joint letter urging the Thai government to release those detained and to allow peaceful protests. While the state of emergency was later lifted, numerous protesters remain detained, and the Thai government has shown little signs of acceding to the demands made by the peaceful protesters.
PEN International said it was also concerned about a report it had received in recent days that Thai police have begun targeting writers, linking the content of their work to the protest movement. On October 19, a search warrant was executed by Thai police against Fa Diew Kan (Same Sky), a progressive publishing house founded by scholar and writer, Thanapol Eawsaku. During the search, several books authored by Nattapoll Chaiching and Thongchai Winichakul were seized and Thanapol was brought to a local police station for questioning. While at the time of writing no arrests have been made, the targeting of writers by Thai authorities is illustrative of the threat that the ongoing crackdown poses to freedom of expression in Thailand, PEN said.
In response to the Thai government’s crackdown, Salil Tripathi, chairman of PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee, said: “Thailand’s lèse-majesté law is an affront to democracy. Meant to protect the dignity of the Royal Family, the law has become a tool to stifle criticism, be it satire or legitimate critique of the actions and practices of the Royal Family. The Thai people revere their monarchy; it does not need laws that intimidate dissenters or curb free speech to preserve its reputation. Thai authorities should drop lèse-majesté charges in the present instance and remove the legislation from its statute.”
PEN International urged the authorities to unconditionally release peaceful protesters who were arbitrarily detained, end the harassment of writers, publishers and academics, and to amend the Criminal Code, in particular the lèse-majesté law and the articles that criminalise defamation and insult, to ensure that it meets Thailand’s international obligations to protect freedom of expression.
UN human rights mechanisms have repeatedly clarified that criminal defamation and insult laws, including lèse-majesté laws, are incompatible with international standards on free expression.
In 2017, the then UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, called on Thailand to stop using its lèse-majesté law to stifle critical speech. He said, “The lèse-majesté provision of the Thai Criminal Code is incompatible with international human rights law, and this is a concern that I and my predecessors have raised on numerous occasions with the authorities.”
The disproportionate use of such restrictions also run into tension with Articles 9 and 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Thailand is a state party.
Non-profit organisation iLaw has questioned the decision of the police to detain three pro-democracy protest leaders who had been freed by the court on Friday.
In a post on its Facebook page on Saturday, iLaw said that according to Section 68 of the Criminal Code, once a suspect is arrested, the arrest warrant is no longer valid for further use.
“In case the suspect is released or runs away after the arrest, police officers would need to request a new arrest warrant from the court,” it said.
iLaw was referring to the incident of four pro-democracy protest leaders — Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak, Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul, Panupong “Mike” Jadnok and Patiwat “Bank” Saraiyam — being freed on Friday evening after the Criminal Court declined to grant a third request by police to detain them for further interrogation.
“Penguin, Rung and Mike have multiple warrants for taking part in rallies in several provinces, including Nonthaburi, Roi Et and Ayutthaya. However, they had already been arrested and detained at Thanya Buri Prison in Pathum Thani,” it said. “Their lawyers have coordinated with police officers in all areas where they have arrest warrants to make sure they would not be detained again after release, as the suspects had already completed all the legal processes including being notified of the charges, interrogation and recording their fingerprints.”
On Friday night, when Parit, Panusaya and Panupong were released from prison, police transported them to Prachacheun Police Station instead, citing that the three still have pending arrest warrants and would need to be detained and later brought to Ayutthaya Police Station.
“Their lawyers tried to explain to the police that since the three had already been arrested and interrogated by the police, their arrest warrants should no longer be in effect.
“Police should have no power to detain them as they have no arrest warrants,” said iLaw.
Two protest leaders had to be hospitalised after a delay in their release despite a court order caused a pandemonium at Prachacheun Police Station on Friday night.
Protesters smashed the windows of the vehicle carrying them when they were not allowed to come outside.
Four leading figures of the pro-democracy protests were ordered to be freed on Friday evening after the Criminal Court declined to grant a third request by police to detain them for further interrogation.
The four are: Panupong “Mike” Jadnok, Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul, Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak, and Patiwat “Bank” Saraiyam.
Panusaya was freed from the women’s prison, while Patiwat, after he was freed, told protesters outside the court that Parit and Panupong had been taken away by police.
Panupong, Panusaya and Parit face various charges, including inciting unrest, stemming from their roles in the September 19 rally at Thammasat University’s Tha Prachan campus in Bangkok.
At 9.20pm, the prison vehicle carrying Parit and Panupong arrived at Prachacheun Police Station. Officials met with a group of protesters, who reportedly surrounded the vehicle and smashed windows to try to free the two protest leaders. Police officials rushed to prevent the protesters from forcefully opening the car’s doors.
At 9.50pm, Panupong had to be sent to Kasemrat Prachacheun Hospital to treat a wound from a broken glass while Parit also had to be hospitalised after he possibly suffocated and passed out in the vehicle. His body showed some signs of being beaten, according to Tossaporn Sereerak, a doctor and former Pheu Thai MP who gave him first aid on Friday night. He said Parit was conscious in the hospital where the doctor promised to scan and check his health.
Police said the two would be sent to Ayudhya Police Station later because they also face charges in Ayudhya province. They also sent Panusaya to the hospital to check for her health before sending her to Ayudhya Police Station.
At around 4am, protest leaders announced the end of their gathering at the police station, and told participants to stand by for updates to be announced on Saturday morning.
Former prime minister and political veteran Anand Panyarachun told a panel on Thursday that Thailand’s political problems could be blamed on the Constitution, which has been written to help certain parties win elections.
Anand was speaking at the “From Analogue Age to Digital Age: How Can we Narrow the Communication Gap with Sincerity and Grace” forum hosted jointly by COFAC, the National Press Council, the Change Fusion Institute and Chulalongkorn University’s Centre for the Study of Peace and Conflicts.
He said the new charter should be shorter and should not include the most problematic Section 272, which gives the junta-selected senators a final say in the choice of prime minister.
“This section should be removed. The senators know this, but they are too afraid to speak,” he said.
Anand also advised Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to at least try and understand the protesters’ demands, though he said the decision to step down is up to Prayut.
“The young generation insists that the prime minister is the source of all problems. I’m not sure if other generations agree, but they too think that his resignation would help solve the problem,” he said.
He also said the authorities should try to bridge the communication gap, adding that young people will not obey laws that they believe were written by a group that wants to hang on to power. Anand said the protesters believe that “Prayut has done wrong for seven years”.
Meanwhile, when Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam was asked to comment on Anand’s speech, he responded by saying he had not listened to them or read them.
However, he said, he strongly believes that setting up a reconciliation committee would be the best solution for the ongoing political unrest.
Patsaravalee Tanakitvibulpon 
Buddhipongse Punnakanta 
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