Scuffle over camp quarantine preceded blaze Exiles inspire Thai protests
BANGKOK: At a university campus demonstration in Bangkok on August 10, the images of two men were projected on to a giant screen as protesters chanted ‘‘Long live the king’’.
The images were not of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, who holds a place of ‘‘revered worship’’ in the Thai constitution, but of two exiles who have openly criticised the monarchy.
Former diplomat Pavin Chachavalpongpun and historian Somsak Jeamteerasakul have not been involved in organising a recent series of demonstrations and show no sign of working together, but some protesters said their writing and social media posts have helped to loosen the taboo on questioning the monarchy, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison under Thailand’s lese majeste law.
‘‘The fact that the public discusses the monarchy institution more is because of them,’’ said Panusaya Sithijirawattankul, a 21year old university student.
‘‘Previously, we were unable to say any of this and if we did, we would risk becoming another exile,’’ said Panusaya, who read out a 10point demand for palace reform at the August 10 protest. It was based on a reform proposal by Somsak, which he wrote a decade ago and revised and published on Facebook last year, where Panusaya saw it.
Somsak’s proposal called for the abolition of the lese majeste law and the end of what he called ‘‘onesided public relations campaigns promoting the monarchy’’, among other things.
Government deputy spokeswoman Ratchada Thanadirek said the men’s criticism of the monarchy was ‘‘inappropriate’’.
‘‘The monarchy is loved and revered by Thais. Insults to the monarchy can upset another group of people. Expressions should take other people’s feelings into consideration too.’’
Since July 18, a growing number of mostly young protesters have called for changes to a political system they say assures Prime Minister Prayuth Chanocha a hold on power. They have focused on Prayuth, but some have also called for reform of the monarchy. More than 10,000 people attended the biggest of the rallies on August 16. Another is planned for September 19.
Prayuth, who led a military coup in 2014, says elections held last year were fair. His security forces have arrested more than a dozen protest leaders for breaching security laws and defying a decree banning public gatherings due to Covid19. All protesters have been released on bail.
Pavin and Somsak, who live in Japan and in France respectively, have been singled out.
‘‘Where are they now and how are they taking responsibility for the damage afflicted on our country?’’ Prayuth said on August 25, referring to the two men specifically, when asked about royal criticism on social media.
At least 102 other Thais have gone into exile since the 2014 coup, mostly for fear of prosecution for lese majeste, according to campaign group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.
In April 2017, Prayuth’s military Government said anyone sharing what it described as ‘‘false information’’ from the two men, as well as UKbased author and former Reuters journalist Andrew MacGregor Marshall, could face prison under the Computer Crime Act. That month, police arrested and detained four people after they shared a Facebook post by Somsak but did not proceed with charges.
The threat of prosecution has not deterred many Thais. Each of the three men has hundreds of thousands of followers online.
Pavin and Somsak are reviled by traditionalists who believe the monarchy must never be questioned, such as politician Warong Dechgitvigrom who said ‘‘they are exiles because they have committed illegal actions and have illegal thoughts’’.
Pavin (49) is a former Thai diplomat who quit the foreign service in 2010.
He told Reuters he left because during a posting in Singapore, he was upset at having to defend the military coup in 2006 that removed populist prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra from power. He worked as an academic in Singapore before moving to Japan in 2012 and is now an associate professor at Kyoto University.
‘‘I’m only glad that whatever I’ve been fighting for so long, that those people [protesters] begin to appreciate whatever I paved the way for them,’’ Pavin said. — Reuters
LESBOS, Greece: For asylumseekers trapped in the overcrowded facility on Greece’s island of Lesbos, the Moria camp was hell most days. But a coronavirus quarantine was the final straw.
It was just before midnight on Tuesday when eight migrants who tested positive for Covid19 were told by authorities they would be isolated to an area just beyond the gated compound, according to witnesses and government officials.
Their relatives would also be moved into the fenced unit, comprising about 40 small wooden houses on a hill inside Greece’s biggest migrant settlement set up to deal with any breakout of Covid19, for further testing.
The news did not go down well and scuffles broke out in the area, the witnesses and officials said. The melee spread when other migrants in tents close to the isolation unit joined the fray.
Minutes later the fire broke out and tents were in flames fanned by strong winds. By morning the sprawling complex was a smouldering mass of mangled steel and burnt tents and containers. Thousands, including children, were forced to sleep on the streets around the camp.
‘‘It was chaos,’’ 21yearold student Elena Ilunga said.
‘‘I took my things from the tent and ran to the street.’’
Ilunga said she initially saw flames burning forest, but later saw five or more fires inside the camp, one of them close to her tent.
Greek authorities have launched an investigation. The Government said the fire was started by asylum seekers, without providing evidence.
The Moria camp’s more than 12,000 residents, four times its capacity, were already sorely tested by living in conditions UN officials had decried as ‘‘shameful’’ — packed into tents and containers with little running water and frequent fights over food.
‘‘Life in Lesbos is hell. The situation in Moria was very bad,’’ said 26yearold Mahmoud Noorzaie, from Afghanistan, who has lived there for more than a year.
‘‘We want to leave this island‘‘, he said, after the fire.
It is not the first time there has