The protest against the new NPO bill is now in its 4th day since it occupied the street in front of the United Nations headquarters on Monday (23 May), while concerns are being raised as the police try to convince them to move to make way for an upcoming royal motorcade.

Members of civil society organizations from across the country marched on the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security on 24 March to protest against the new non-profit organization bill, concerned that it would be used to restrict freedom of association in Thailand.

Police in Songkhla Province have turned down a request to hold an anti-seawall public gathering at Muang Ngam beach, claiming it would violate the Emergency Decree on Covid-19 control. Many people still went to express their objections on the beach where the construction is taking place, while police took video recordings and photos.

The Constitutional Court of Thailand ruled to dissolve the Future Forward Party on the grounds that the party has broken Article 72 of the 2017 Organic Law on Political Parties by taking a loan from its leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit. The Court also banned its leaders for ten years.

Amnesty International calls on the Thai authorities to stop instrumentalizing the legal process to intimidate and harass the leaders and members of the Future Forward party, as the country’s Constitutional Court prepares to deliver a judgment on 21 January 2020 on a judicial case that could see the party banned and its leaders prosecuted. The spate of prosecutions targeting the party appear to be in clear retaliation for activities of the party that fall within the exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.