Student protesters facing jail as they raise the stakes in Thailand
THEY have rallied while dressed as Harry Potter and mocked Thailand’s government with songs about hamsters, but ongoing protests by Thai students this summer have taken a bolder twist that carries the risk of lengthy jail terms.
Demonstrations that began with calls to end harassment of government critics and for constitutional changes to restrict the army’s influence over politics have expanded to a 10-point demand for reform of the monarchy.
The statement, repeated at several rallies last week, was a daring move in a country where strict lese-majeste laws against insulting or defaming the king can be punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Prayuth Chan-ocha, the prime minister – who first took power in a 2014 coup – admonished the mainly student protesters for going too far. Veteran activists conceded that the movement was reaching a precarious moment with an unpredictable outcome. “They [students] are continuing to push the boundary. At the same time, the state is trying to suppress them in all sorts of ways,” said Pavin Chachavalpongpun, an associate professor in southeast Asian studies at Kyoto University. “We are heading towards a very dangerous juncture in Thai politics.”
The protests appear to have been partly inspired by the Hong Kong prodemocracy movement, by choosing not to appoint one central leader, and showing a similar hallmark of creativity. Protesters have borrowed pop culture symbols, including songs from Hamtaro, a Japanese manga cartoon series about a male hamster, and from the musical Les Misérables, as well as the three-fingered salute from
The Hunger Games movies.
Last week’s arrest of Parit Chiwarak, a prominent student activist known as Penguin, and several other high-profile protesters on charges of sedition – which carries a maximum seven-year prison term – has fuelled concerns that the authorities are gearing up for a wider crackdown.
Human Rights Watch warned yesterday that it had information the police were planning to arrest at least 31 people, including many student leaders, in the coming days.
“Each new arrest of a peaceful pro-democracy activist shows the Thai government’s authoritarian tendencies and lack of respect for human rights,” said Brad Adams, HRW’s Asia director. “Peaceful protests and critical expression demanding political reform should not be criminalised.”