Tension boils over as protest leaders report to police
Scuffles broke out as Jatupat Boonpattararaksa and 14 other anti-government protester leaders reported to answer charges at Samranrat Police Station in Bangkok on Friday (August 28).
The protesters were charged with violating the emergency decree and offences related to traffic and disease control laws over their participation at the Free Youth rally at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument on July 18.
Jatupat, better known as Pai Dao Din, travelled to the station with his co-accused from the October 14 Memorial, where they and around 100 supporters had camped overnight for a protest dubbed “Camp Not Jail”.
Dozens of anti-government activists have now been summoned or arrested over protests that began in June.
On hand to monitor events at the station were United Nations officials, academics, and Move Forward politicians, but they were barred from getting close to the protesters by barriers erected by police.
Also outside the station were around 100 supporters of the protesters, some of whom tried to cross the barriers, sparking scuffles with police. Among them was singer Chaiamorn Kaewvibulphan, who splashed blue paint on officers in what he described was “artistic” retaliation for police harassment of protesters.
Jatupat spent almost two years in jail from 2017 to 2019 after being found guilty of lese majeste for sharing a BBC Thai profile of His Majesty the King. In 2014 he was among the first to use the three-finger salute of defiance against dictatorship, which has now been adopted by the nationwide student-led anti-government campaign.
The protesters are calling for dissolution of Parliament, a new Constitution and an end to harassment of activists. Some are also calling for monarchy reforms.
