Minor among villagers facing charges over 500-metre march in support of We Walk

By CHULARAT SAENGPASSA 
THE NATION 

 

 

THE MILITARY will take action against 14 people, including a minor with intellectual-development problems, for taking part in a 500-metre march in Phayao’s Phu Sang district.

 

“They are now facing charges for violating the ban by the National Council for Peace and Order [NCPO] on political rallies,” Taweesak Maneewan, an adviser to the Northern Farmers Confederation, said yesterday. 

 

If convicted, they face a jail term of up to six months, a maximum fine of Bt10,000 or both. 

 

The group marched briefly at the village on Doi Thevada on Monday morning to show support for the People Go Network’s ongoing We Walk march to Khon Kaen. 

 

The accused minor, 16, took part with his father. 

 

After they had finished the march, plain-clothes police complained that the marchers had not informed local officials beforehand. 

 

Then in the afternoon, uniformed soldiers arrived and accused the villagers of organising an activity that might affect national security. 

 

At 7pm on Monday, police summoned the marchers to Phu Sang Police Station – 11 people turned themselves in, while three others did not answer to the summons. 

 

The people who surrendered were detained overnight at the police station and taken to Chiang Kham Court yesterday morning. Police obtained permission to detain them further pending an investigation. 

 

The accused, however, successfully submitted a bail request and were released on Bt5,000 bonds each. 

 

The minor was the only one who surrendered but was not taken to court yesterday, because police had not been able to question him. 

 

Taweesak said all the accused marchers denied wrongdoing. 

 

 “The Central Administrative Court has issued an injunction to protect the We Walk activities, so this march should not be seen as a crime,” he said.

 

On January 26, the Central Administrative Court ordered that police were not allowed to block the We Walk march, which started in Pathum Thani province last month and is due to finish in Khon Kaen province later this month. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30338119

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-02-07

2 minutes ago, webfact said:

accused the villagers of organising an activity that might affect national security. 

One word for this..........pathetic, or maybe two words.............<deleted> pathetic !

Welcome to the real Thailand, runs on fear always  has  done.

Edited February 6, 20188 yr by gunderhill

I'm beginning to understand now what Prayut was explaining when he talked about Thai Democracy the other week.

In an unjust society the only place for a just man is prison.

-Thoreau

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Posted 1 hour ago

Minor among villagers facing charges over 500-metre march in support of We Walk

By CHULARAT SAENGPASSA 
THE NATION 

 

 

THE MILITARY will take action against 14 people, including a minor with intellectual-development problems, for taking part in a 500-metre march in Phayao’s Phu Sang district.

 

A 16 year old lad with a developmental disability-who was there with his dad?

 

Absolutely monstrous.

To be fair, it would seem that this lad is not the only one with "intellectual development problems".

Any government that needs to accompany a 500 metre protest march by a slack handful of people carrying home made placards with plain clothes police, before deploying soldiers to accuse them of endangering national security...

Edited February 6, 20188 yr by JAG

36 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

Absolutely monstrous.

Yes, how dare they protest.

And a 500-m walk is rather short, perhaps they meant 500-km?

Edited February 6, 20188 yr by Ruffian Dick

1 hour ago, Ruffian Dick said:

Yes, how dare they protest.

And a 500-m walk is rather short, perhaps they meant 500-km?

First they came for my cards..

Then they came for my darts..

Then they came for my intellectually disabled son...

and then they came..

 

Apparently the entire 21st Infantry Division was urgently deployed to crush this rebellion....oops.."threat to National Security."

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Then in the afternoon, uniformed soldiers arrived and accused the villagers of organising an activity that might affect national security. 

Really ? A bunch of tin shack villagers  ?   I still bet that they show as postal voting for the junta in the next election though

It is amazing that they have no idea of the amount of contempt they are generating  Is there nobody in the civil service who posses a nimble mind ? 

Has the junta sank so low? Yes they have and will be lower in days to come.

4 hours ago, webfact said:

an activity that might affect national security. 

how tiresome, people invoking this who have no clue what it Might mean;

local policemen interpreting national security; ludicrous

They look like a real threat......everyday feeling more like

N. Korea, maybe time to start building a few labour camps.

regards worgeordie

And yet they had to be detained as if they were a violent gang of thugs.

Sent from my [device_name] using http://Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

2 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Really ? A bunch of tin shack villagers  ?   I still bet that they show as postal voting for the junta in the next election though

I rather suspect that it will be the "tin shack villagers" that eventually end up chasing this bunch down the road to the waiting private jets...

5 hours ago, Ruffian Dick said:

Yes, how dare they protest.

And a 500-m walk is rather short, perhaps they meant 500-km?

I was thinking the same thing. 

5 hours ago, JAG said:

To be fair, it would seem that this lad is not the only one with "intellectual development problems".

Any government that needs to accompany a 500 metre protest march by a slack handful of people carrying home made placards with plain clothes police, before deploying soldiers to accuse them of endangering national security...

Yeah, ya gotta laugh, or cry really, at that photo above. National security risk?

Plain clothes coppers...

Uniformed soldiers?

For what?

They are just pissing off more and more of the populace, day by day, week by week.

Pretty soon, maybe not even by November, but definitely before February, push is gonna become shove and hopefully, it's game over for these imbeciles.

Footnote; I just hope, for the love of Buddha, that in my lifetime, I get to see the two P's and all their henchmen arrested, and charged with treason.

A Mussolini ending would be oh so fitting...

7 hours ago, gunderhill said:

Welcome to the real Thailand, runs on fear always  has  done.

Yes.

 

 

3 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Really ? A bunch of tin shack villagers  ?   I still bet that they show as postal voting for the junta in the next election though

A few tin shack villages will join with other villages and the trickle will become,eventually,a raging torrent.

 

Well done,brave people.

Don't talk about watches and disclosing them as items or proving if the duty was paid on them or not. Was the duty paid? Walk it in or buy it off the shelf is another issue. But everyone else, just be quiet and do as I/WE say or you will get a lobotomy to really act that way. The people who speak up are going to feel a terrible wrath. 

3 hours ago, yellowboat said:

It is amazing that they have no idea of the amount of contempt they are generating  Is there nobody in the civil service who posses a nimble mind ? 

While I feel sorry for the villagers,  these exercises in ineptitude of the Junta are great. I hope they keep it up. The more contempt they garner the better.  I hope it leads to the downfall of the military (but that is wishful thinking - they would rather go North Korea style than give up their power).  

3 hours ago, YetAnother said:

how tiresome, people invoking this who have no clue what it Might mean;

local policemen interpreting national security; ludicrous

I think you will find that a lot of the police do not support these actions, but have no choice with the army looking over their shoulder.  

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

 

Problem is Thailand has so few patriots & so many tyrants....tree might die

Edited February 7, 20188 yr by mania

1 hour ago, GarryP said:

While I feel sorry for the villagers,  these exercises in ineptitude of the Junta are great. I hope they keep it up. The more contempt they garner the better.  I hope it leads to the downfall of the military (but that is wishful thinking - they would rather go North Korea style than give up their power).  

It has taken the North Korean regime 70 odd  years to reach the level of control, brainwashing and acceptance by their population which they seem to have (we don't really know how universal it is - although the steady trickle of escapers would seem to suggest that it is not unchallenged). North Korea's people went straight from medieval serfdom to a Stalinist autocracy.

Here the people -even the poor, have had access to political debate and have had the opportunity to select their government. They still have access  - through social media - to information and ideas other than those the regime propagates. That is a very big difference, and is why attempting to go down the North Korean route will fail. In fact, perversely it could hasten the demise of the Junta.

 

It is often said that the Thai people are poorly educated. That is true. That does not mean that they are not informed. That information may lack the veneer of sophistication it may have in the west (although looking at recent political debate in the UK and US I am not so sure!) but it exists nevertheless. A big difference.

32 minutes ago, JAG said:

It has taken the North Korean regime 70 odd  years to reach the level of control, brainwashing and acceptance by their population which they seem to have (we don't really know how universal it is - although the steady trickle of escapers would seem to suggest that it is not unchallenged). North Korea's people went straight from medieval serfdom to a Stalinist autocracy.

Here the people -even the poor, have had access to political debate and have had the opportunity to select their government. They still have access  - through social media - to information and ideas other than those the regime propagates. That is a very big difference, and is why attempting to go down the North Korean route will fail. In fact, perversely it could hasten the demise of the Junta.

 

It is often said that the Thai people are poorly educated. That is true. That does not mean that they are not informed. That information may lack the veneer of sophistication it may have in the west (although looking at recent political debate in the UK and US I am not so sure!) but it exists nevertheless. A big difference.

I agree that it will fail, but it does not mean the military won't give it a try (they have a penchant for making  things worse for themselves). I would hope it does lead to the demise of the junta and a true end to the power of the military. 

Shaking my head in disbelief.....again

15 minutes ago, GarryP said:

I agree that it will fail, but it does not mean the military won't give it a try (they have a penchant for making  things worse for themselves). I would hope it does lead to the demise of the junta and a true end to the power of the military. 

They may well give it a try.

One of the key indicators of professionalism and ability amongst military commanders is the ability to conduct what is called "an appreciation". Either a quick one "on the hoof" (a combat appreciation) or a more leisurely thorough one. The process looks at what you want to achieve, considers all known facts, poses questions, and eventually produces a variety of options from which one produces a plan. Nothing I have seen or heard about the Thai military in the years I have been around the country, and more latterly living here, leads me to believe that they can do this. Add to this the fact that their army, although large, is virtually untrained, largely immobile, and for the most part composed of conscripts who are at least politically apathetic, and quite possibly active sympathisers with the side which they would be required to confront.

 

The fire order "At your Mum, Dad and cousins, 100 metres to your front, 10 rounds rapid, go on!" is simply not going to work is it?

 

You are right. It would be messy in places, but it would be over soon.

Yeah, fine, go ahead, just don't have your revolution in my backyard.

1 hour ago, Ruffian Dick said:

Yeah, fine, go ahead, just don't have your revolution in my backyard.

Do what thy manhood bids thee do, from none but self expect applause; he noblest lives and noblest dies who makes and keeps his self-made laws.

 

Absolutely nothing "noble" about your post.