Thailand stepping up response to protests as anti-government demonstrations escalate
BANGKOK — A confrontation between the Thai authorities and anti-government demonstrators that has escalated in recent days jumped to an uncertain new phase on Friday, as protesters were forcibly dispersed and two of the movement’s participants were charged with violating an obscure law against endangering the royal family.
Riot police officers deployed powerful water cannons for the first time, drenching demonstrators with a stinging liquid and carrying out a spate of new arrests in a crackdown that has hit the protests with an arsenal of threats, diktats and detentions.
The invoking of the arcane law, which carries up to life imprisonment for committing “an act of violence against the queen’s liberty,” added to the tensions in Thailand, which has been periodically engulfed by political turmoil and is known for strict measures to prevent disparaging the king and
his kin.
The “act of violence” was, apparently, yelling at a royal motorcade.
Two days earlier, a stretch Rolls-Royce carrying Queen Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Ayudhya and Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti, the heir apparent, hadmade a surprise detour past some of the pro
testers, who have been calling for fresh elections and reforms to the monarchy for months.
“Oh, the royal motorcade,” said Ekachai Hongkangwan, a veteran political activist, throwing his hand up in the defiant three-finger salute that the protesters have borrowed from “The Hunger Games.”
“Stay in line and keep the peace,” added Bunkueanun Paothong, a college student, through a megaphone.
Thatwas it. Both accounts were confirmed by eyewitnesses and video footage. But by Friday, both Ekachai and Bunkueanun had been charged with violating Section 110 of Thailand’s criminal code— a provision so arcane that a database of Thai Supreme Court cases makes no mention of it.
With an army-drafted constitution and some legal provisions that hark back to when the country was an absolute monarchy, Thailand has plenty of draconian offenses that can land people in jail for speaking out. A lèse-majesté law criminalizes criticism of the royal family and can mean prison sentences of up to 15 years.
The use of Section110, however, was unexpected. Human rights lawyers and legal scholars were left scrambling to understand what exactly constituted an “act of violence against the queen’s liberty.” Punishment ranges from 16 years to life in prison.