<p>A flashmob took place in front of the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) on Saturday (20 November) to demand the right to bail for activists detained pending trial on charges related to participation in pro-democracy protests.&nbsp;</p>

<p>On Thursday night (18 November), police from Thonglor Police Station raided a live painting event organized by the Cross-cultural Foundation (CrCF) at WTF Gallery &amp; Cafe and ordered them to erase the painting claiming that it is &ldquo;insulting.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Student activist Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul has been denied bail on a royal defamation charge relating to a protest on 20 December 2020, in which activists wore crop tops at Siam Paragon shopping mall to campaign for the repeal of the royal defamation law.</p>

<p>Prachatai spoke to Srisamorn Soffer, primary school teacher and children&rsquo;s book writer, who started the &ldquo;Dream of Hope Tales&rdquo; project and who wrote most of the poems in the series, about how the project began, the importance of the stories, and young people&rsquo;s freedom to read.</p>

<p>The royal defamation law reflects Thai society and is needed to protect the monarchy and national security, said Minister of Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Thani Thongphakdi at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session on Wednesday (10 November).</p>

<p>The Civil Court said on Tuesday (9 November) that it will issue a ruling on 30 November in a lawsuit filed against historian Nattapol Chaiching and his publisher, Same Sky Books for producing two books based on Nattapol&rsquo;s PhD thesis about Thai politics during the Cold War period.</p>

<p><span><span><span>The online petition to repeal the royal defamation law, or Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code, has received over 100,000 signatures within 24 hours of its launch.</span></span></span></p>

<p>The Chiang Mai Administrative Court ruled in favour of students from the Media Arts and Design Department, Faculty of Fine Arts, Chiang Mai University, who <a href="https://prachatai.com/english/node/9505">filed for a temporary injunction</a> on 18 October after the University administration prohibited them from showing their final theses in the University Art Centre because some pieces dealt with social and political themes.</p>

<p>Student activists Benja Apan and Nutchanon Pairoj have been sentenced to jail on contempt of court charges stemming from <a href="https://prachatai.com/english/node/9213">a protest at the Ratchadapisek Criminal Court on 29 April 2021</a> to demand the release of detained activists.</p>

<p>On Monday, 1 November, student activist Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul and representatives from <a href="https://www.amnesty.or.th/en/latest/news/965/">Amnesty International Thailand</a> submitted a petition to the prime minister to demand the release of detained activists and an end to the prosecution of protesters.</p>

<p>The public prosecutor has decided to indict Noppasin Treelayapewat, 16, who was charged with royal defamation for participating in a &ldquo;fashion show&rdquo; during a pro-democracy protest on Silom Road on 29 October 2020.</p>

<p>Activists and people affected by the royal defamation law, or Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code, went to parliament yesterday (27 October) to submit a petition to the House Committee on Legal Affairs, Justice, and Human Rights for the repeal of Section 112.</p>