(Hong Kong, July 31, 2007) A member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of Thailand has condemned the previous weekend's violence between security forces and crowds outside the house of the chief Privy Councillor, after which he and other anti-coup protest leaders were arrested.

In a letter to the regional representative of the UN's human rights body made public last Friday, Jaran Ditapichai condemned the violent dispersal of demonstrators outside the Bangkok residence of the man whom they accuse of being the mastermind of the September 19 coup, General Prem Tinsulanonda.

"The police used their batons, pepper and tear gas to disperse the crowd... throughout the time, we made announcements from the stage asking the police not to hurt the people and observe our rights to assembly and to demand for democracy," Jaran said in the letter.

"It was apparent that military personnel [were] mixed with the anti-riot police force in use for the operation while military troop[s were] on standby ready to move in for the final suppression," he said.

"This brutal action to disperse the crowd is against the rights to lives and physical integrity of the people; it is against the rights to assembly and expression of our democratic movement," Jaran added.

The full text of the letter is given below. Jaran issued a similar letter to "all human rights friends" on Tuesday, adding that, "The struggle for democracy still goes on under the political and military threat from the regime."

On Thursday, nine leaders of the protests, including Jaran, were arrested and held in police custody. Jaran was subsequently released on bail but the other detainees, including a former chief justice of the Criminal Court, have declined to apply for it.

Basil Fernando, executive director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, expressed concern over the treatment of the protestors.

"It is perfectly legitimate for people, irrespective of other factors, to protest against military dictatorship," Fernando said.

"And furthermore, under any circumstances the obligation lies upon the state to minimise violence through prudent and sensible crowd management, not through the sort of actions that can be clearly seen on website video clips which have apparently not been broadcast on television in Thailand," he said.

In recent days videos have circulated on the Internet showing police officers assaulting protestors with truncheons and firing gas canisters into the crowd, contrary to reports in the mainstream media that they had exercised restraint. 
 
"In fact some of the reports, referring to the demonstrators as 'black-hearted pigeons' and 'barbarians', are utterly offensive and speak to a very dangerous psychological condition," Fernando said.

"Such perverse public discourse is the natural consequence of military rule and it is not shocking, although it is distressing, to hear Thailand's media sounding more and more like that of its neighbour, Burma, than anything resembling a free press," he added.

The director of the Hong-Kong based regional rights group has consistently expressed his opposition to the latest military takeover in Thailand, predicting that it would push back the country's social and democratic development by decades.

"We are monitoring everything that is going on in Thailand with very grave concern, including the recent violent protests and subsequent arrests of the leaders, and will continue to speak vigorously against the renewed and growing militarisation of the country," Fernando said.

"We urge the international community not to take what is happening there lightly, or to expect that things will be 'back to normal' after the planned referendum and election," he concluded.

A military-approved constitution drafting process is due to culminate with a vote on August 19.

The interim government has spent vast sums of money to promote the draft while warning persons who campaign against it that they could face criminal legal action.

A simple majority is all that is required to bring the draft into law. If it does not pass, the military has reserved the right to pick any of the previous constitutions of Thailand and amend it prior to the scheduled vote for a new government.