The shootout led by an unhappy soldier in a shopping mall in downtown Nakhon Ratchasima claimed up to 20 lives.

The former Future Forward Party leader said he will talk about this issue as well as the fact that it is six years since the 2014 coup in a live chat at 8pm on Friday (May 22).

He said on Friday (May 22) that even though political issues were not the Army’s responsibility, protection of the country was its duty.

“The Army does not need to be polite in taking political action because it has to prevent conflicts in the country,” he said. “I believe the Army must carry Thailand and when conflicts occur, it must intervene and leave when the country returns to peace.”

He added it was understandable that the Army would be criticised but people would change their minds over the course of time when they realise its responsibility.

He said current Army chief Apirat Kongsompong was doing a great job in national matters.

There has been speculation and talk recently about conflicts among different factions of the party, as well as rumours that some party members want Uttama to be replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan as party leader.

Meanwhile, Uttama insisted on Wednesday that the party will continue supporting Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, especially during the Covid-19 crisis which was effectively brought under control via the government’s directives.

Separately, party spokesperson Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana called on rumourmongers to stop gossiping as it is affecting the government’s image, especially since it has worked so hard to contain the pandemic.

“While protest leaders and demonstrators have faced criminal prosecutions, no justice, truth or reparation has been served to families of those killed during the violence,” the rights group noted.

May 19, 2010, saw Thai authorities launch their final military operation to disperse thousands of protesters during months-long demonstrations in Bangkok. The clearance operation followed five weeks of often violent confrontations that claimed 94 lives, while at least 1,283 individuals sustained injuries, Amnesty International (AI) pointed out.

Protesters, journalists, bystanders, volunteers, police officers and military personnel were among those killed, but the cause of death is still unknown for some victims.

“On the 10th anniversary of the last day of the violent crackdowns, Amnesty International calls on the Thai authorities to immediately bring all those suspected of criminal responsibility to justice in fair trials before civilian courts, and provide effective remedies for families of those who were killed,” AI said in a statement.

The protests began on March 12 when the red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) mobilised several protests in and around Bangkok and called on supporters from provinces throughout Thailand to immediately join them. Two days later, the UDD demanded that then-prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva dissolve parliament and hold a general election. AI notes that when measures by the government’s Centre for Resolution of the Emergency Situation – headed by then deputy PM Suthep Thaugsuban and General Prawit Wongsuwan, who is currently deputy PM – had failed, Army troops equipped with live ammunition were deployed to disband the demonstrators.

During these operations that commenced on April 10, the military used unnecessary and excessive force and unlawfully killed protesters, including three children and two unarmed medics wearing medical uniforms with a red cross, said AI. Army troops reportedly also fired live ammunition at and above the crowds in the “live fire zones” adjacent to the protest sites. Demonstrators also reportedly used firearms to attack political opponents and security forces, and were accused by the authorities of arson and vandalism, noted the rights group.

Following the violence, the government announced on May 21, 2010 that “an independent investigation of all the events that have taken place during the protests” would be carried out “in a transparent manner”. AI points out that, to date, none of the government officials, Army commanders or military personnel involved in the operations has been prosecuted, despite the Department of Special Investigation’s effort to file murder charges against ex-PM Abhisit and his deputy Suthep with the Prosecutor’s Office based on a court-confirmed death by military ammunition. The victims also filed a malfeasance case against Abhisit, Suthep, General Anupong Paochinda, then Army Commander who currently serves as Interior minister, and others to the National Anti-Corruption Commission, but the case was dismissed in 2015. Five police officers who were involved in filing were sentenced to four years imprisonment, then reduced to two, by the Court of Appeal for malfeasance.

Some protest leaders were acquitted of “terrorism-related” offences by the Criminal Court in August 2019, but have faced serious criminal and civil charges in at least five other cases, one of which resulted in a fine of more than Bt20 million.

“When human rights violations and abuses are committed, all those suspected of criminal responsibility must be brought to justice in fair trials before civilian courts. If state officials are found guilty of human rights violations, purely disciplinary or administrative remedies are inadequate and not in accordance with international law,” AI said.

It adds that since 2010, families and friends of the victims have consistently called for justice, but in response, some have faced intimidation by government authorities.

“Phayaw Akkahad, mother of a volunteer nurse Kamonkade Akkahad, who was shot dead at Bangkok’s Pathum Wanaram temple, filed murder charges against military personnel with the Department of Special Investigation in 2010. In May 2019, she learned that the military prosecutor issued a non-indictment decision on the case. In July 2019 Phayaw was fined for failure to notify authorities of the protest under the Public Assembly Act after she had campaigned for justice for her daughter.

“Most recently, on May 11, 2020, Special Branch police made several phone calls at night questioning her about plans for the anniversary of her daughter’s death. Under international law and standards, remedies must be provided by an independent and impartial court of law, ‘especially when violation of the right to life is alleged’.”

The rights group notes that a key witness to nurse Kamonkade’s death – Nathathida ‘Waen’ Meewangpla – faces “terrorism-related” charges in relation to a grenade attack on Ratchada Criminal Court, in addition to royal defamation allegations under the vaguely-worded Article 112 lese majeste law.

To mark its 10th anniversary and demand justice for the crackdown, activists have projected laser-messages “Searching for the Truth” and “Killing Fields in Central Bangkok” on sites related to the crackdown, including Pathum Wanaram temple, the Defence Ministry, the Democracy Monument, CentralWorld mall, and Ratchaprasong intersection. In response, the Defence Ministry labelled the act “politically motivated” and threatened to take legal action against the Progressive Movement, which carried out the campaign.

On the night of May 13, 2020, red shirts gathered at the entrance of Bangkok’s Lumpini Park in memory of Major General Khattiya Sawatdiphon, known as “Seh Daeng”, a military adviser to the protesters who was killed by a sniper’s bullet while giving a press interview during the 2010 protests. After the crowd dispersed, police arrested Anurak “Ford” Jeantawanich, a well-known political activist who had organised the event, and accused him of violating the prohibition of gatherings set under the Emergency Decree and subsequent regulations issued in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Anurak faces two years in prison and a fine of Bt40,000 in addition to a number of pending criminal charges against him as a result of his previous activism.

Amnesty International has previously called on the Thai authorities to ensure that emergency powers to address Covid-19 are not used arbitrarily to restrict human rights.

The lack of justice, truth and reparation from the government for those killed and injured during the 2010 protests highlights the continued impunity for human rights violations, as well as the government’s disregard of international law and standards on crowd dispersal and the use of force, said AI. The authorities’ failure to address these violations creates a climate of fear among the public and allows room for future violations and abuses to go unpunished, it added.

“The Thai authorities must immediately prosecute any current and former officials and individuals suspected of criminal responsibility, including those with command responsibility, with the guarantee of the right to a fair trial. Full reparation must be effectively provided for relatives of the victims and survivors in accordance with international law and standards.”

The then-Abhisit Vejjajiva administration ordered security forces to crack down on protesters, resulting in scores of lives being lost.

Meanwhile, state officials are threatening legal action against those who have campaigned for truth in recent days over laser light projections of a “political message” on symbolic buildings.

The campaign for truth demonstrates the unresolved and deep political divide in the prolonged political conflict between the military and conservative faction on one side and the pro-democracy groups on the other.

“Neither political reconciliation, nor reform have made any progress,” said Gothom Arya, adviser to Mahidol University’s Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies.

While one side claims progress, the other side refuses to accept such claims, he added.

The heart of the issue is that there is a lack of people participation, as those who have seized political power do not make any real efforts to be open to wider people participation.

Trading accusations against each other will not lead to constructive engagement, he lamented.

People have the right to criticise former PM Abhisit Vejjajiva, but demanding that he and others stand trial might be going too far, he said, referring to the bloody crackdown on red-shirt protesters 10 years ago.

The Covid-19 crisis has also slowed the efforts to amend the 2017 Constitution that could lead to political reconciliation. However, the virus crisis may narrow the gap between the rivals’ political stands, he said.

Gothom was optimistic that Thailand could move towards political reconciliation should the government and the House of Representatives could work it out together, but large-scale participation from the public is also needed.

Titipol Phakdeewanich, dean of Ubon Ratchathani University’s Faculty of Political Science, said that acceptance of differences would be most important in the democratic process.

Reconciliation in Thailand’s context only forces people to accept the idea of national unity, he argued.

Real political reconciliation must have an element of accepting differences which will accommodate all the different interested groups of people to live together peacefully, he said.

The Truth for Reconciliation Commission of Thailand chaired by former attorney-general Kanit na Nakorn did not encompass all stake holders as the red-shirt group was blamed by the Abhisit government as troublemakers. The commission was appointed by the Abhisit government in the aftermath of the political violence in April and May of 2010.

Abhisit did not take any responsibility or accountability for the crackdown, said Titipol.

People have the right to campaign for the facts of the bloody crackdown, as so far people have only got the official account. Previous fact-finding efforts were only attempts to whitewash the previous government, he added.

Meanwhile, Anusorn Tamajai, chairman of Pridi Banomyong Institute, said that reconciliation could be achieved by knowing the truth about past political incidents. Those who had committed wrongdoings must be tried in court while those who were punished without justification must be compensated by the state. Then it should be followed by political amnesty, he said. Reconciliation is only the first step, but the ultimate goal is to become a fraternity, he added.

Richard Grenell, the acting director of national intelligence and one of Trump’s most combative defenders, arrived last Thursday at the Justice Department’s headquarters clutching a brown leather briefcase. A Fox News camera was pre-positioned at the entrance on 10th Street NW, seemingly tipped off to record footage of the dramatic scene.

Grenell carried a list he had declassified of former Obama administration officials, including former vice president Joe Biden, who had sought to remove the cloak of anonymity from references in intelligence documents that turned out to be of Flynn. During a brief meeting with Barr, Grenell turned over the list of names, setting off a chain reaction that led Republican senators to publicly release it on Wednesday in what they claim is a monumental scandal.

The practice, known as unmasking, is commonplace in government. But in the case of Flynn, Trump and his allies used the list of names to claim Obama, Biden and their appointees deliberately sought to sabotage the incoming Trump administration as part of a long-running conspiracy they have dubbed “Obamagate.”

“We sort of have the smoking gun because we now have the declassified document with Joe Biden’s name on it,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said Thursday.

With Trump suffering political damage for his management of the coronavirus pandemic less than six months before the election, the president’s government appointees and allies in Congress are using their powers to generate a political storm aimed at engulfing Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, and Obama, whom polls show is the nation’s most popular political figure, making him a potent threat to Trump as a Biden surrogate.

Another objective is to rewrite the history of the Russia investigation as Trump has long sought, by casting Flynn as a martyr wronged by nefarious bureaucratic elites.

These efforts are being amplified by wall-to-wall coverage on Fox News Channel and elsewhere in conservative media, where this week Flynn coverage has rivaled and at times overshadowed news about the pandemic, even as the U.S. death toll from the novel coronavirus climbed past 85,000.

And in a remarkable turn Thursday, Trump urged Congress to call Obama to testify and even suggested those involved – including Biden and two longtime Trump antagonists, former FBI director James Comey and former CIA director John Brennan – go to prison.

“I’m talking with 50-year sentences,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network that aired Thursday. “It’s a disgrace what’s happened. This is the greatest political scam, hoax in the history of our country. . . . People should be going to jail for this stuff. ”

Trump added, “This was all Obama. This was all Biden. These people were corrupt – the whole thing was corrupt – and we caught them.”

Biden has denied any wrongdoing. The newly revealed list shows that roughly three dozen government officials, including Biden, Brennan and Comey, may have received Flynn’s name in response to a request to reveal the identity of a U.S. person anonymously identified in an intelligence report.

Biden acknowledged attending a Jan. 5, 2017, Oval Office meeting with Obama and other officials at which the counterintelligence investigation into Flynn, then Trump’s designee for national security adviser, was discussed. But he said he knew nothing else about the topic when pressed Tuesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“This is all about diversion,” Biden said, ascribing a motive to Trump. “This is a game this guy plays all the time. The country is in crisis. . . . He should stop trying to always divert attention from the real concerns of the American people.”

Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said the unmasking list underscores “the breadth and depth of concern across the American government – including among career officials” about Flynn’s interactions with officials from Russia and other foreign governments. Bates also accused Republicans of abusing their government powers “to act as arms of the Trump campaign.”

Trump has been distracted recently from managing the pandemic by fixating on Flynn and related matters, ranting in private about the Russia investigation, complaining about Comey and others in the FBI, and making clear he wanted to talk in the run-up to the election about law enforcement targeting him, according to one adviser who spoke with the president last week.

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has been focused extensively on the Flynn situation and has discussed it regularly with Trump, seeing it as vindication of his long-held skepticism toward the Russia probe, according to two senior administration officials.

Paul framed the unmasking as an opportunity to counter the Democratic-led impeachment of Trump for allegedly using his office to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate Biden.

“What it seems to indicate is that high-ranking members, including Joe Biden, used the power of government to go after a political rival – and if that story line sounds familiar, well, we heard that sort of story line from the other side for over a year,” Paul said.

Trump has branded the saga “Obamagate,” a slogan he has tweeted or retweeted 14 times in the past five days. When asked Monday what crime he was accusing Obama of having committed, Trump could not say beyond “some terrible things happened.” Pressed a second time, Trump admonished a Washington Post reporter for asking.

“You know what the crime is,” Trump said. “The crime is very obvious to everybody. All you have to do is read the newspapers, except yours.”

“Obamagate” morphed in just one week from a fringe cause pushed on social media and podcasts by Trump allies – including former National Security Council staffer Sebastian Gorka and conservative legal commentators Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing, among others – to a centerpiece of Trump’s reelection message.

In Trump’s political orbit, advisers had been quietly readying a renewed political war over the Russia probe for weeks, but the Justice Department’s move last Thursday to drop charges against Flynn flipped the switch.

“It’s a constitutional scandal because all of these people acting together at the Obama Justice Department, the FBI, and the CIA decided they were either going to prevent [Trump] from being elected,” diGenova said during an April 29 podcast. If that failed, diGenova said the Obama team was determined to “frame Trump and make him look like a Russian agent. Nothing gets bigger than that. This is a kind of perfidy and sedition that should never be tolerated.”

Flynn had pleaded in 2017 to lying to the FBI, admitting multiple times in court, under oath, that he was guilty of the crime. But as the months wore on, Flynn changed his legal teams and went on the attack against the Justice Department – alleging a bevy of misconduct, including that the agents who interviewed him had set him up to lie.

Barr, acting on the recommendation of Jeff Jensen, the U.S. attorney in St. Louis, agreed to ask a judge to dismiss the charges. The department’s legal rationale – essentially, that the FBI did not have good reason to interview Flynn in the first place and thus his misstatements were not relevant – was criticized by some legal observers as a contorted way of helping a Trump ally.

But the move won Barr praise from Trump and many on the right, who immediately sought to rewrite the narrative about Flynn – whom Trump said he had fired as national security chief because he had lied to Vice President Mike Pence as well as to the FBI – and hailed him instead as a hero.

At the same time, other allies of the president were laboring to resurrect a long-dormant line of attack on the case: that intelligence officials in the Obama administration sought to remove the cloak of anonymity from references to Flynn in intelligence documents.

Unmasking is common. Many intelligence documents are distributed with identities concealed to protect the privacy of U.S. citizens, though certain officials can ask that the protection be removed to help them better understand what they are looking at.

Still, Trump and his allies are attempting to turn it into a scandal.

“This is something Trump is very good at,” said Joyce White Vance, a former U.S. attorney in the Obama administration. “He takes things that are the normal course of business – like, for instance, people who are authorized for unmasking so they can make sense of intelligence data – and turn them into something suspicious. It becomes an us-versus-them moment.”

Grenell sent an email on May 3 about unmasking requests related to Flynn to the National Security Agency, which routinely receives and approves thousands of unmasking requests each year, including during Trump’s term. Gen. Paul Nakasone, the NSA director, responded the next day with a list of U.S. officials who may have received Flynn’s name following a request to unmask it in an intelligence report.

There was no indication that the people who requested the unmasking knew that Flynn’s name would be the one revealed. Nor, the NSA advised, was it clear that every official on the list actually saw a report with Flynn’s name, or that they made the request themselves. Staffers often make unmasking requests on their bosses’ behalf, said people who have been involved in the process.

The list showed that a broad range of officials obtained information about Flynn, from the CIA and the FBI to the Treasury Department and the U.S. mission to the United Nations. Biden, or possibly a staff member acting on his behalf, made his unmasking request that revealed Flynn’s name on Jan. 12, 2017.

The document does not make clear why Biden or any other official had requested the unmasking in the first place, nor does it indicate that Flynn had engaged in communications that alerted intelligence officials to investigate his contacts with foreigners.

Last Thursday, when Grenell showed up at the Justice Department to deliver the list to Barr, the visit and Fox News’ apparent knowledge of it took some senior officials there aback. Grenell, who had been ambassador to Germany before assuming the intelligence post on a temporary basis, has long associated with some of Trump’s most vocal right-wing supporters and has earned plaudits from the president for his tweets attacking journalists.

Shortly after the visit, according to Justice Department officials, Grenell’s office seemed to be intimating to reporters that it would be up to Barr or his underlings to decide whether to release the document.

That, in the view of Justice Department leadership, was not accurate, since the department did not create the document and Grenell, not Barr, had declassified it.

“The information is not ours to release,” Justice Department spokesman Kerri Kupec said Tuesday on Fox News. She explained that Grenell’s office “owns that document. They declassified that document. So if they choose to put that out there, they’re more than welcome to do so.”

Ultimately, Republican Sens. Charles Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin asked for the list and then released it on Wednesday.

Trump and his allies were prepared to pounce.

“Almost all of us who are involved or follow this have the facts of this case memorized,” said Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer during the Russia investigation. “So it’s natural to want to talk about the requests to unmask Flynn and really look at whether these people were engaged in a conspiracy to get Flynn out.”

Conservative media in turn have been abuzz this week with anger about Flynn’s treatment and criticism of U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan, who is overseeing the Flynn case and must approve the dismissal of the charges. Sullivan has appointed a retired federal judge to oppose the Justice Department’s position and explore where Flynn should be held in contempt for lying to the court.

“The hatred for Donald J. Trump is as strong and intense as ever, and it is flavoring and directing and influencing what everybody in that town is saying and doing about virtually everything they’re saying and doing,” conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh told his listeners this week.

Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett, whose books about the Russia probe have been touted by Trump, theorized Thursday on “Fox & Friends” that the Obama administration went after Flynn “with a vengeance” because he had been determined to “expose the Russia hoax.”

Two people involved in Trump’s reelection campaign said the effort was designed not only to weaken Biden, but also to tarnish Obama, who is likely to be a visible surrogate for Biden this fall. Obama had the highest approval rating, at 60 percent, of all living political figures tested in a recent Republican National Committee poll of voters in 17 battleground states. Biden and Pence tied for second at 47 percent.

Revealing the ways Trump hopes to benefit politically from the issue, Trump sent a fundraising plea to supporters on Thursday declaring, “Oh how the tables have turned.” After an investigation he dubbed “the Russian Collusion Delusion,” Trump wrote, the unmasking list shows “Sleepy Joe is the GUILTY one.”

Also on Thursday, Trump took to Twitter to urge Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to call Obama to testify about the matter.

“He knew EVERYTHING,” Trump wrote. “Do it @LindseyGrahamSC, just do it. No more Mr. Nice Guy. No more talk!”

Graham responded with a statement saying the committee would begin hearings on this and related matters in June, but that he is “greatly concerned about the precedent that would be set by calling a former president for oversight.”

“Both presidents are welcome to come before the committee and share their concerns about each other,” Graham said. “If nothing else it would make for great television. However, I have great doubts about whether it would be wise for the country.”

The projected messages, reading “finding the truth”, also went viral on social-media.

Though police are guarding the sites where the messages were projected, no moves have been made to prosecute those behind the campaign.

Metropolitan Police chief Pol Lt-General Pakkapong Pongpetra said police was collecting evidence to see if the expression of such messages violated other people’s rights.

Meanwhile, authorities are tracking down the 40 or so people who attended the memorial ceremony for Khattiya “Seh Daeng” Sawasdipol – an Army major-general who supported the red-shirt movement and was shot in the head on May 13, 2010 while being interviewed by a New York Times journalist.

The attendees of the memorial will be prosecuted for allegedly violating the emergency decree.

Red-shirt activist Anurak Jeantawanich, 51, was arrested for allegedly organising the ceremony, but he denied the allegation and has been let out on a bail guarantee of Bt30,000.

Anurak allegedly held a gathering attended by some 40 people to commemorate Seh Daeng who was shot dead during the protests.

But the alleged gathering violated an emergency decree that requires social distancing to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

He was taken to Lumpini Police Station. He denied the accusation and was let out on a bail of Bt30,000. Police will collect evidence to consider whether he should be prosecuted.

“I still come to work every day as usual,” he said on Thursday (May 14). “Rumours are just rumours and should be treated as such. I won’t mix party affairs with my duties.”

Rumours have been swirling since last month that Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan is eyeing Uttama’s post as party leader, ahead of a Cabinet reshuffle that would cement the grip of Phalang Pracharat’s military faction. Prawit eventually responded to the speculation by denying that a leadership change was on the cards.

Uttama, when asked by the press if there was any pressure within the party for him to resign, said the situation is as everyone sees it, adding there was nothing more he could say.

“Political [in]stability could affect people’s confidence in the country’s economy. To this end, the government must show its capability to serve the public need. PM Prayut [Chan-o-cha] also told us that, in the current situation, everyone must place their duties as top priority.”

The finance minister also admitted that Thailand’s GDP in 2020 would definitely shrink.

“The ministry will announce its official estimate [for 2020 GDP] on Monday [May 18], at the first joint press conference between the Fiscal Policy Office and the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council,” he added.

“We do not know the exact purpose of this group but speculate that they have also spread these messages around social media to gain a wider audience,” Defence Ministry spokesman Lt-General Kongcheep Tantrawanich said. “It seems they are trying to bring up past political events, but this could lead to misunderstanding by authorities and institutes.”

Laser messages with the hashtag #ตามหาความจริง (“finding the truth”) have appeared on several government buildings and at public places such as the Defence Ministry, Ratchaprasong BTS Station and Pathumwanaram Temple. The messages mentioned the Black May 1992 events and the breaking up of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship rally in 2010, while urging readers to “find the truth” behind the Army’s actions.

“I personally find it inappropriate to project these messages on government and public buildings, which could spark disagreement amid a crisis that the country is already facing. If the group wants to seek the truth, they can find it from evidence in legal cases, some of which have already seen verdicts while others are awaiting further legal procedures,” Kongcheep said.

“The moves by this group might have underlying political implications,” he added. “National security authorities are considering legal action against the group and expect to find them soon.”