The Supreme Administrative Court accepted a lawsuit filed by an online news agency over police violence against reporters during the 18 November 2022 crackdown on anti-government demonstrators, overturning an earlier Administrative Court ruling dismissing the lawsuit.

During the crackdown, a reporter for The Matter was filming a group of police officers rushing to a demonstrator who was on the ground. He was soon confronted by police officers, who struck him with a baton and shoved him to the ground, before stomping on him with their boots. The reporter was wearing the blue press armband issued by the Thai Journalists Association (TJA), which was used to identify media workers during the 2020 – 2021 pro-democracy protests. He could be heard in video clips repeatedly identifying himself as a reporter while the police beat him.

The Matter filed a lawsuit against the police claiming 700,000 baht in damages and asking the Court to issue an order restricting the police’s use of force during protest crackdowns. The Administrative Court dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that crowd control officers were authorised by the Criminal Code and the Public Assembly Act to keep the peace. The crackdown was therefore outside of the Administrative Court’s jurisdiction as it was not done under an administrative order.

Representatives of The Matter appealed the ruling. The Supreme Administrative Court ruled on 22 February overturning the dismissal on the grounds that the Public Assembly Act does not specify which court has the jurisdiction, so it must follow the common practice where the Administrative Court has jurisdiction over administrative cases. Only two sections specified that cases regarding public assembly must go to the provincial courts or civil courts: Section 21, which allows a civil court or provincial court to order a public assembly to cease; and Section 25, which allows participants in an assembly to file an objection with a civil court or provincial court against an official’s order to disperse.

The Supreme Administrative Court therefore ruled that The Matter’s lawsuit concerns a violation committed by an administrative agency or government officials exercising their legal power, where the Administrative Court has jurisdiction and may impose an execution notice.

Other reporters were also injured during the crackdown. Police officers were seen in video clips charging at a group of reporters and photographers who were standing on the sidewalk, pushing them with shields and hitting them with batons. Most were wearing the same TJA-issued armbands.

Meanwhile, Photographer Chalinee Thirasupa was hit in the face by a glass bottle which allegedly came from the back of the police line. She was photographing the police from behind a truck when the bottle was thrown at her head. A photograph of Chalinee receiving first aid makes it clear that she was wearing a press ID and the TJA armband.