<div> <div>The deputy junta head has said now is not a proper time to demand freedom of expression since the country is in a ‘transition period,’ adding that the arrests of the anti-junta activists were not human rights violations.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On Wednesday, 29 June 2016, Gen Prawit Wongsuwan, the deputy junta head told the media that freedom of expression was not necessary for Thailand at this time since the country was in a so-called ‘transition period’, adding that the junta never suppressed discussion of the August referendum but everything must be done through the junta-provi </div></div>

<div>Demand the junta government to cease prosecution three women unionists and students and release all activists being detained in a prison.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>According to Thursday 23 June 2016’s incident, the authorities arrested three women unionists, namely, Miss Kornchanok Thanakhun, academic committee of Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers’ Federation of Thailand (TWFT), Miss Tuenjai Waengkha and Miss Peemai Ratwongsa from Triumph International Labour Union of Thailand as well as ten student activists during dessiminating information about how to vote in the referendum for th </div>

<p><strong><em>Update</em></strong><em>: Seven activists in total were arrested for commemorating the 84^thanniversary of the 1932 Siamese Revolution. Six are student activists from Ramkhamhaeng and Kasetsart University while another is Chanoknan Ruamsap, a youth activist from the New Democracy Movement (NDM). The police accused the seven of violating the junta’s ban on political gatherings and on Saturday will request permission from the Military Court to detain them. &nbsp; &nbsp;</em></p>

<p>A police officer has intimidated a student activist from Ramkhamhaeng University over an academic seminar on the junta-sponsored draft constitution, asking the student whether he has a brain or not.</p>

<p>Military officers have reportedly searched the home of a well-known anti-junta student activist currently facing an arrest warrant.</p>

<p>Thai police officers have attempted to discourage people from commemorating the 14 October 1973 student uprising, citing the Public Assembly Act.</p> <p>On Wednesday evening, 14 October 2015, at least 300 people gathered around the Democracy Monument on Ratchadamnoen Avenue in central Bangkok to participate in the 42^nd anniversary of the 14 October 1973 student uprising, when 50,000 students took to the streets to call for an end to the dictatorial regime of Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn.</p>

<p>Military officers summoned university students in northern Thailand for a discussion after they commemorated the 1976 student massacre, saying that the event was political incitement.</p> <p>According to&nbsp;<a href="https://tlhr2014.wordpress.com/2015/10/07/chiangrai_ratchabhat/">Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR)</a>, military officers from the 37th Army Division in the northern province of Chiang Rai on Tuesday, 6 October 2015, contacted Chiang Rai Rajabhat University, requesting to have words with all the students who commemorated the 1976 student massacre.</p>

<p>Human rights lawyers condemned the Thai police for the hasty arrests of 14 embattled student activists and the unlawful collection of the activists’ mobile phones.</p> <p>Yaowalak Anuphan, head of Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), said at a press conference on Sunday, 28 June, at Thammasat University, that the arrests on Friday were hasty and unprofessional.</p> <p>The 14 activists, mostly students, were arrested for political gatherings on 22 May, the first anniversary of the 2014 coup d’état, in Bangkok and the northeastern province of Khon Kaen.</p>

<p>The Thai police confiscated five mobile phones after a search of the car of a defence lawyer for the 14 embattled anti-junta student activists while the lawyer pointed out that the search was unlawful.</p>