The Thai military stormed into a meeting in central Thailand, citing the junta’s ban on political gatherings, while calling meeting participants ‘brainless’. On 13 June, according to the Thai Lawyer for Human Rights Centre (TLHR), military officers intervened in a meeting organised by the Assembly of the Poor (AOP), an NGO which is the voice of marginalised communities in Thailand, in Chai Badan District of central Lopburi Province.

The Thai authorities in Isan, Thailand’s Northeast, have announced a plan to reforest extensive areas amid concerns from the poor, who fear that the policy might affect their livelihoods.    Boonsong Techamanisatit, Governor of the northeastern province of Sakon Nakhon, on Tuesday morning announced a new policy to reclaim about 15,700 rai (25.12 sq.km) of land in an attempt to reforest areas in Phu Phan National Park, Phu Pha Lek National Park, and other protected forests in the province.

A civil society organisation for Thailand’s poor has urged people to call on the Thai junta through local administrators to hold a referendum on the draft constitution. The Assembly of the Poor, an organisation which is the voice of Thailand’s poor communities, on Tuesday submitted a statement to the Thai junta to demand that the regime hold a public referendum on the draft of the country’s highest law, the constitution.

  About five military officers at 10.30 am on Thursday detained a land rights activist and active member of the Assembly of the Poor at his home in the Buriram Province, after a week of tension between the military and villagers over a land issue, according to the Assembly of the Poor.   Prom Jarana, 65-year-old land rights activist and active member of the Assembly of the Poor, a grassroots network which works to promote land rights, was taken from his home in Pakham District, northeastern Buriram Province by five military officers.