By Thaweeporn Kummetha and Kongpob Areerat |
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<div>Different from the anti-coup movement in May and June, the latest anti-coup wave is from frustration than reaction. The frustration mainly comes from the junta's strict censorship policy which applies equally to all groups -- even on people who originally supported the coup. </div>
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<div>Eight student activists, including a student who was arrested for giving the anti-coup three-fingered salute at the Hunger Games 3 premiere last week, were arrested after they distributed anti-coup leaflets at Thammasat University, Tha Prachan campus. </div>
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<div>Most of the students are from the League of Liberal Thammasat for Democracy. Natchacha Kongudom, a Bangkok University student who was arrested on Thursday, also joined them.</div>
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<div>At press time, the police had taken them to police stations.
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<div>After five student activists from Khon Kaen University were arrested on Wednesday morning for flashing a three-fingered salute, a group of 11 student activists from Bangkok’s Thammasat University organized a supper at the Democracy Monument to show support for their fellow student activists, which led to their arrest late on Wednesday night. </div>
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<div>After they were detained for about four hours, the police released them before midnight without charge.</div>
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<div><em>Update: At around 1:30pm, the police arrested Natchacha Kongudom, a Bangkok University student at Siam Paragon's cinema, after she raised three fingered salute in front of the Hunger Game 3 poster when she received a free ticket from the LLTD.
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By Kongpob Areerat and Thaweeporn Kummetha |
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<div>Since the coup d’état on 22 May, the junta has threatened and detained academics and students in many tertiary educational institutions. It even sent soldiers to storm on-going academic seminars and force them to stop. Despite the climate of fear, Thai academics are now protesting against the junta and the suppression of free speech by using a metal box. Yes, a metal box -- or ‘<em>Peep</em>’ in Thai. </div>
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<div>The military and police on Thursday evening detained four academics and three student activists for organizing and participating in a seminar about the end of dictatorial regimes in foreign countries after forcing the seminar to be stopped. They were released about 9.30pm.</div>
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<div>The seminar was a part of the political seminar series “Democracy Classroom”, organized by League of Liberal Thammasat for Democracy (LLTD), a progressive Thammasat student group.
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