Emergency declared in Thailand after unprecedented protest
SEVERAL TOP STUDENT LEADERS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY, WITH ONE DECLARING ON FACE BOOK THAT HE HAD BEEN DENIED ACCESS TO A LAWYER
Anti- riot police officers withdraw after chasing a small group of pro- democracy protesters in Bangkok yesterday. Security forces dispersed an encampment of demonstrators who had camped out overnight near Government House.
Thai authorities declared a strict new state of emergency for the capital yesterday, a day after a studentled protest against the country’s traditional establishment saw an extraordinary moment in which demonstrators heckled a royal motorcade.
After the predawn declaration, riot police moved in to clear out demonstrators who after a day of rallies and confrontation had gathered outside Prime Minister Prayuth Chanocha’s office to push their demands, which include the former general’s stepping down, constitutional changes and reform of the monarchy.
Several top leaders of the protest movement were taken into custody, with one later declaring on his Facebook page that he had been denied access to a lawyer and was being forced onto a helicopter and taken to a city in the country’s north. Police said they had made 22 arrests.
The text of the emergency declaration said it was needed because “certain groups of perpetrators intended to instigate an untoward incident and movement in the Bangkok area by way of various methods and via different channels, including causing obstruction to the royal motorcade.’’
The protest on Wednesday in Bangkok’s historic district, not far from glittering temples and royal palaces, was the third major gathering by student- led activists who have been pushing the boundaries of what is considered acceptable— and legal— language by publicly questioning the role of Thailand’s monarchy in the nation’s power structure.
Thailand’s royal family has long been considered sacrosanct and a pillar of Thai identity. King Maha Vajiralongkorn and other key member of the royal family are protected by a lese majesty law that has regularly been used to silence critics who risk up to 15 years in prison if deemed to have insulted the institution.
Religious ceremony
The protest — held on the anniversary of a 1973 student- led uprising against a military dictatorship— was complicated by the presence of royalist counter protesters who had gathered both to show support for the government and to greet the royal family as they travelled to and from a religious ceremony in the area.
That led to a moment captured in photos and video that circulated widely on social media in which what appeared to be protesters gestured and shouted just meters ( feet) from the royal motorcade. Such actions are unprecedented in Thailand, where those waiting for a royal motorcade regularly sit on the ground or prostrate themselves.
Some experts say a line may have been crossed.
“What seemed to be a lowboil stalemate that the Prayuth government was managing with reasonable success has now, following the incident involving the procession of the queen’s motorcade down a street inwhich an active protest was under way and the arrests of protest leaders, become a full- blown crisis,” said Michael Montesano, coordinator of the Thailand Studies Programme at the ISEAS- Yusof Isak Institute in Singapore. “Unlike even 48 hours ago, the country is in dangerous territory now.’’
Government spokesman Anucha Buraphachaisri announced yesterday morning that the prime minister had ordered police to take strict action against those who obstruct a royal procession or otherwise insult the monarchy. Keeping order will be facilitated by the new emergency decree for Bangkok, which bans unauthorised gatherings of more than five people.
What seemed to be a low- boil stalemate that the government was managing with reasonable success has now become a full- blown crisis.”
Michael Montesano | ISEAS- Yusof Isak Institute
22 arrests police have made so far in Thailand
1973 the year student- led uprising against a military dictatorship took place