'No threats' to students' parents

SECOND Army Region Commander Lt General Thawat Sukplang denied yesterday that parents of anti-coup Dao Din students have been threatened by the military. 

The denial came as students challenge the authorities to arrest them and Amnesty International launched an urgent action campaign worldwide to express support for the seven students.

Thawat said the authority contacted parents of the seven student activists in order to forge an understanding about the situation, adding that what the Dao Din student group is doing is against peace and order. 

He said some parents of Dao Din students are government officials and they were reminded that what their children are doing is inappropriate given the timing and against the law. He acknowledged that some parents were troubled because they could not force their children to stop.

The Second Region Army chief added that Dao Din represents a tiny group that is trying to link with other groups and the authorities were trying to warn them. He believed villagers in Loei province in the Northeast, where the students are currently staying would understand.

The seven posted a message and a group picture on Facebook yesterday morning saying they’re staying near a controversial gold mine in Loei and are ready to be arrested by |the junta but would not go to surrender.

“We are waiting for you… We’re ready since yesterday and if you don’t come we will start planting rice,” a message posted by one of the member, Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, 23, a law student at Khon Kaen University, said. They were at Baan Nongbong, in Loei’s Wang Saphung district, it said.

The group also issued a statement that they would not “beg for freedom from the National Council for Peace and Order [NCPO] or evil capitalists”.

“We chose to come to Loei province because we know we will be arrested … This is where we learnt and fought along with villagers [on environmental issues related to the mine] and it’s where the seven of us began to fight against injustice and social disparity,” part of the statement read. 

“That we are trading our freedom is to show that Thailand lacks freedom, be it inside or outside prison.” 

The six others, who are also Khon Kaen University students, are: Suwitcha Pitankkorn, Supachai Phukrongploy, Panuphong Sritananuwat, Wasan Setsit, Payu Boonsophon and Apiwat Soontararak.

Human rights group Amnesty International, meanwhile, launched an urgent action campaign from its London headquarters yesterday urging members worldwide to write to the Thai police chief Pol General Somyot Poompanmoung to express concern that the seven, plus nine other students in Bangkok, who peacefully protested against the military, are at risk of being arrested. These 16 students could face a fine and a jail term of up to one year each. The campaign runs until the end of July.

Thawat said no decision for arrest had been made yet although the law would have to be enforced and a decision made when time comes.