Govt urged to delay public assembly law enactment

In the letter to the prime minister, House Speaker and chairman of the National Reform Council, LRC chairman Kanit Na-Nakhon said that the law can wait until Thailand has a new Constitution. The Constitution will indicate the scope of freedom of individuals in public assembly. The law also requires free public opinion. 

"The LRC considers the draft law approved by the Cabinet on November 18, 2014 is illegitimate and contains excessive infringement against individual freedom," Kanit said.

He furthered that the draft contained a clause limiting freedom of public assembly, which contradicts the freedom guaranteed by the interim Constitution.  Meanwhile, barring public assembly within 150-metre radius of Parliament Building and Government House does not correspond with public wishes for attention from the administrative and legislative branches. 

LRC also opposed the clause that public assembly organisers are liable to criminal charges, if they are not involved with criminal actions specified under the Criminal Code. Each person must be responsible for their own actions, it said.