Thai pro-democracy demonstrators plan more marches in defiance of junta crackdown on dissent
The junta of coup leader and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has banned political gatherings of more than five people and has summoned hundreds of activists for questioning.
A group of pro-democracy activists said on Sunday they plan more marches after staging the largest political demonstration in Thailand’s capital since a military government took power in May 2014.
Another protest would set up a flashpoint with a junta that is considering taking action against the organisers of the hundreds of people who, defying government orders, marched on Bangkok’s Democracy Monument on Saturday.
The New Democracy Movement (NDM) may stage another event in early October, said Rangsiman Rome, an NDM coordinator and a law student at Bangkok’s Thammasat University.
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“We are scared but will we back down? No. I will keep fighting because we want Thailand to become a democratic country,” Rangsiman said on Sunday.
The group had permission to hold a forum at the university on Saturday but not to march beyond its walls.
It is unclear why authorities allowed the march to proceed. Protesters at many smaller gatherings have been detained by a government that has previously brooked no public show of dissent.
The junta of coup leader and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has banned political gatherings of more than five people and has summoned hundreds of activists for questioning. Many, including journalists and politicians, have been forced to attend “attitude adjustment” sessions at army bases.
