FEAR keeps good people from acting...sadly, the propagators of this 'fear' are many a times the government itself... People who hold power simply fear the emergence of alternative views, opinions and voices - they try to suppress not just different ideas - but also the ability of people sharing their views with other people...Sadly, in many nations, most people have just decided to 'play safe'...the choose to ignore the wrongs and injustices...'that happen to others'...Such behaviour sadly only encourages 'violators of rights' to do more wrongs and soon the 'silent''good''loyal' also is affected. Silence is not an option...It is always best to highlight and do the needful to stop wrongdoings of violators ...before it is too late...Well, in Thailand, we are inspired by the actions of ordinary people ...not political celebrities, etc..
The right of people to lobby other people for greater support for a particular viewpoint and/or opinion is fundamental, and must be represented. Now, there is an initiative by the 'People GO Network' - the activity is a walk of teams of 4 persons each from Bangkok to Khon Khaen, some 450 kilometres, a journey that will take about 28 days.
Why 4 persons? - well the peaceful assembly law says that assembly of 5 or more requires the obtaining of permission, and as such, it is not illegal for teams of 4 or less to walk..or 'assemble'..
"WE WALK...SOLIDARITY/FRIENDSHIP", which started on 20/1/2018...and is still on-going today(26/1/2018)...But sadly, there has been some actions by the authorities that can be said to have violated the rights of the people....We hope that the Thailand government will hereafter do the needful to RESPECT the rights of these people...
See earlier post:-
Thailand - Walking 450 Km for Justice - Hope they succeed and no clampdown by Thai authorities?
Authorities intimidate HIV activists after supporting civil rights march
Submitted by editor4 on Thu, 25/01/2018 - 16:55The police and soldiers have created the climate of fear among HIV activists, making them decide to stop giving out assistance to the HIV-positive in provincial hospitals. This intimidation came after activists signed a petition in support of the civil rights march.
On 25 January 2018, the police and soldiers visited members of the Network of People Living With HIV/AIDS in Sisaket and Surin Province. The intimidation occurred after the network signed a statement of FTA Watch, urging the junta to stop prosecuting the organisers of the civil rights march “We Walk, A Walk for Friendship”.
Nimit Tian-udom, director of Aids Access Foundation, told Prachatai that in the morning, police officers and soldiers visited hospitals in the provinces and asked the hospitals’ director to summon the network members for interrogation.
Nimit added that provincial officers from Ministry of Social Development and Human Security also summoned the network’s local leaders to question about their reason for signing the petition. “Those who were summoned has no involvement with the march. They’re just members of the group which signed the statement,” stated Nimit.
To avoid further problems with the authorities, some HIV groups decided to halt their daily activities, such as visiting the house of people with HIV and giving advice for those who came to the hospitals, Nimit pointed out.
The statement by FTA Watch, with signatories of 142 civil society organisations, expresses solidarity to the civil rights march and urged junta to immediately cease the prosecution against eight organisers of the rally.
The We Walk march from Bangkok to Khon Kaen kicked off at Thammasat University’s Rangsit campus on 20 January with four main agendas: the right to universal health care, the rights of farmers, community and environmental rights, and the Constitution.
Since the beginning, the rally has faced several interruptions by the police and soldiers. On the first day, the authorities blocked the activists from exiting Thammasat University, claiming the march violated the junta’s ban on public gatherings of five people or more. The protesters then divided into groups of four people and marched from the university group by group.
A day after, Ayutthaya police officers searched their supply trucks and briefly detained four protesters for interrogation. The protesters had to start the march earlier than plan after the authorities pressured an Ayutthaya temple which sheltered them. The organisers of the civil rights march are also facing prosecution for violating the junta’s ban on public assembly.
The march on the fifth day (Photo from People Go Network)
‘We Walk’ rights march organisers sue police over alleged obstruction
national January 23, 2018 01:00
By Pratch Rujivanarom
The Nation
The Nation
2,834 Viewed
THE LEGAL team representing the People GO Network are suing the Royal Thai Police and three high-ranking policemen for allegedly disrupting and intimidating the “We Walk” peaceful demonstration and violating people’s right to gather in public.
After sending the complaint to the Administrative Court yesterday, E-Law Foundation lawyer Surachai Trongngam said the suit accused police of violating public-assembly rights and asked the court to order that police cease operations that limited the right to demonstrate peacefully.
The suit also asks the court to order police to facilitate the protesters’ long march and to pay them Bt100,000 as compensation for previous rights violations.
The People GO Network, an umbrella group of 97 public organisations, launched the 450-kilometre-long march from Bangkok to Khon Kaen last Saturday in a campaign drawing attention to the need for state welfare, universal healthcare, food security, freedom of expression, human rights and a just society for all.
However, from the very first hours of their march, participants faced interference as police and military officers tried to stop the march by labelling the walk as a political protest prohibited by order 3/2558 of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).
Surachai said the operation to suppress and intimidate protesters during the first two days of the “We Walk” march were in clear violation of their right to stage a peaceful protest, which is guaranteed by the current Constitution.
“We had already notified the local police last Friday of the demonstration and that we would follow the procedures under the Public Assembly Act. We assured the police that our protest is not a ‘political protest’, but when we started our long march on Saturday, the group faced several actions from the police to stop the protest,” he said.
“I confirm that this activity does not violate NCPO order 3/2558.”
Surachai said the complaint to the court was spearheaded by four members of the protest – Lertsak Khamkongsak, Nattawat Uppa, Wasinee Bunthee and Nimit Tian-udom.
They named as defendants the Royal Thai Police Headquarters, Klong Luang Police superintendent Pol Colonel Rittinan Puipanthawong, Pathum Thani police commander Pol Maj-General Surapong Thanomjit and Ayutthaya police commander Pol Maj-General Sommai Prasit over their actions to allegedly obstruct the peaceful demonstration.
Nimit said that despite the heavy interference by the officers, the group was determined to walk to Khon Kaen to highlight the severe problems of human rights violations under the military-led regime, regardless of whether officers tried to abduct the march participants.
“Right now we walk in groups of four people to deter authorities’ actions,” Nimit said. “Our long journey is full of uncertainty as the officers threaten anyone who tries to help us. We do not even know where we will sleep tonight and whether we can continue our march tomorrow.” -The Nation, 23/1/2018