The authorities in Thailand’s restive Deep South have raided places affiliated to local civil groups, including an environmental group, a student activists group, and a martial art group.
Police and paramilitary rangers raided the house of Asmi Pu, president of Youth Network of Saiburi River, on Thursday at 5:30am. After the house was searched, Asmi was taken to the police station for questioning, according to Wartani, a citizen journalist group, based in
Pattani Province. The police questioned him for his personal information and the Youth Network. The police also collected Asmi’s DNA samples and fingerprints, Wartani added.
Youth Network of Saiburi River is a network of young civil society workers, local traditional experts, and local people who live near the river. It aims at preserving the ecosystem as well as the traditional way of living, which are both based around the river.
Earlier on 25 May 2016, Wartani reported that five plainclothes police officers in the southern province of Yala searched the house of members of the Federation of Patani Students and Youth (PerMAS), a prominent group of student activists based in the southern border province of Pattani who campaign for the right to self-determination of the Muslim Malay. The house used to be the office of the PerMAS group.
In late March, soldiers in seven trucks raided a school of Silat, a traditional Malay martial art, in Pattani’s Muang District. The soldiers also collected DNA samples of school’s members. The PerSHaP school, abbreviated after its Malay name, teaches the art to children and normally send students to perform Silat at cultural events. The soldiers again searched the place on 10 and 12 May.
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