Graffiti artist stalked by police officers after revolution commemoration event

The graffiti artist known as Headache Stencil was allegedly stalked by four plainclothes police officers at his condominium on Wednesday night (24 June), after he projected an image of Pridi Banomyong onto the wall of Wat Ratchanadda royal temple in the early morning of 24 June to commemorate the 88th anniversary of the 1932 Siamese Revolution.

Images from the condominium CCTV camera showing the four men loitering around the building. 

The anonymous artist, who is known for his political satire, posted on his Facebook page after midnight that four plainclothes officers came to his condominium and waited until he returned. He said that they didn’t have a warrant, and that as soon as he saw them and tried to drive away, they started giving chase.

He told Khaosod English he managed to lose them and spent the night at a friend’s house, and that a security guard at the condominium later told him that the four men said they were police officers but did not present any ID cards.

He posted several images from the condominium CCTV camera, which show the four men loitering around the building, with a timestamp on the images of 22.33 of 24 June.

The incident came after Headache Stencil projected an image of Pridi Banomyong onto the wall of Wat Ratchanadda, as well as an image of the revolutionaries announcing the regime change from an absolute monarchy to democracy, at 1.00 on 24 June to commemorate the 88th anniversary of the 1932 revolution.

A picture of Pridi Banomyong (left) and a picture of the revolutionaries announcing the regime change in 1932 (right) projected onto the wall of Wat Ratchanadda.

Headache Stencil has faced a similar intimidation before, when he spray-painted the image of a clock with the face of Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan onto an overpass in the Sukhumvit area. He ended up receiving a fine of 3000 baht on a vandalism charge.

As democratic revolution gain popularity, state tries its best to stop them

On 24 June, over 15 demonstrations and other events took place all over the country to commemorate the revolution. Other activists have been harassed following their activities, including student activist Parit Chiwarak and other members of the Student Union of Thailand, who were followed by a group of officers after leaving their rally. Piyarat Chongthep, activist and former Future Forward Party MP, was also served an arrest warrant from his part in an earlier assembly while attending a gathering at dawn at the Democracy Monument and was reportedly followed by a plainclothes police officer throughout the morning before he turned himself in.

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