A lawyer representing activist Wisarut Srichan said that Wisarut and his legal team plan to file a lawsuit against the police for their violence against protesters who went to the Chinese Consulate-General in Chiang Mai on 6 July to demand action on contamination in several rivers in the north of Thailand due to Chinese mines in Myanmar.

Wisarut is one of two protesters injured during the clash. He has had surgery to repair his broken arm and is required to stay in hospital for a week for observation. It will take at least 2 months for him to recover.

His legal team is preparing a lawsuit against the police for the clash. His lawyer said that they are considering a civil lawsuit for damages from the police, as well as a criminal lawsuit against the officers for malfeasance. 

The lawyer also said that the protesters may be able to file a class action lawsuit with the Administrative Court for abuse of power after the police blocked them from marching to the Consulate. Unlike the civil and criminal lawsuits, where the plaintiff has to be the two protesters injured in the clash, every protester can join the administrative lawsuit. The lawyer said they are deciding how to proceed.

Wisarut said that the protesters originally planned to march to the Consulate to file a petition calling for the Chinese government to control Chinese companies involved in mining activities in Myanmar which are the cause of contamination in the Kok River. Afterwards, they intended to march back to the starting point at Suan Buak Hat Park. They did not expect violence as only 20-30 people joined the march, and they had already notified the police of the protest as required by the Public Assembly Act. 

Wisarut insisted that the protesters were following regulations. He noted that, with 100-200 officers at the scene, the police could have easily surrounded them. The plan, he said, was to try to negotiate with the police could the possibility of going to the Consulate, but they were willing to stay where the police told them if that was not possible. He did not expect the police to use force.

Wisarut was part of the negotiation team and was marching ahead of the rest of the protesters. He said that he was stopped by an officer, who he assumed to be a superintendent, in front of the SiamTV electronics store. The officer told them to stop, and he responded by asking to move a little further forward for them to talk.

He said that the officers then charged another activist who was walking behind him and tried to seize a protest banner the activist was carrying. The police were pulling on the banner, while the activist refused to let them take it. Wisarut tried to tell the officers to back off, but officers lined up behind him so he blocked them because he was worried the other activist would be arrested. Other protesters in the area shouted at the police to stop, but they continue to push at the protesters and pull the banner. Two other protesters fell after being pushed, and Wisarut said the officers pushed him so hard that he fell and landed with his arm behind his back.

Wisarut noted that he was pushed from behind when he was not expecting it. He said that according to international standards, a properly trained officer would have other ways of warning protesters. They could have stood back-to-back with them or linked arms to block them. The Chiang Mai police did not take these options, even though there was only a small group of unarmed protesters.

He noted that this is not the first time the police have used force against protesters in Chiang Mai. In 2022,  Indigenous rights activists in Chiang Mai marching to submit a petition to an APEC leaders meeting at the Le Meridien Hotel were met with a police blockade. Wisarut recalled that the police pushed protesters to the ground and that 10 people were injured during the clash. However, he estimated that around 700 people joined the protest in 2022.

Wisarut questions if there is a limit to the police’s power. Every time citizens notify them of protest, he said, the police act as an adversary instead of facilitating the assembly. This time, they protected the Chinese Consulate even though it was closed at the time of the protest.

Wisarut wanted to press charges so the police can be held accountable. He also hoped that a lawsuit would lead to a revision of the police’s jurisdiction under the Public Assembly Act.