On Tuesday, Anon Numpha was arrested by police and charged with sedition for leading and speaking in anti-government protests. It was the third time that Anon had been arrested by the state and the third time he faced a lengthy bail hearing.
He is one of 11 people that have been arrested by the police for protest-related crimes and one of 30 more wanted by the state for daring to question its rule.
Old weapons
But incarceration and litigation have long been part of the military-backed government’s arsenal in its fight for legitimacy and the continuation of its rule.
“The arrest and lawsuits against Arnon, Panupong and other leading figures of the pro-democracy assemblies are to intimidate and discourage people from participating,” said Sirikan “June” Charoensiri, a lawyer with Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.
“It’s an abuse of fundamental rights through litigation which raises [questions] about the independence of Thai judiciary and legal practitioners as well as the role of the justice system in protecting rights of the people in a democratic society,” she told Thai Enquirer.
But litigation and arrests aren’t the only weapons the state are resorting to in their quest to quell the student protesters into silence.
According to the legal and rights watchdog ILaw, there have been over 100 cases of government intimidation of students since February, mostly outside of Bangkok and involving home visits by special police.
Families and students have reported visits by authorities asking for their cooperation and to stop protesting.
Oftentimes these concerted programs of intimidation involve recruitment of parents, village headmen, and local security officials to threaten the students into silence.
“This has actually been going on for a long time already and what we are seeing here is the use of unofficial powers where they claim that they are coming in good faith to talk and are worried about the well-being of the protesters,” said Anon Chawalawan, a senior officer at iLaw, a Thai Human Rights NGO.
“When the police visit protesters’ home, the protesters have a right to not comply with the police. In actuality, they should not be visiting without having evidence of wrongdoing and a warrant.”
Surveillance State
Intimidation and home visitations in Bangkok are less common but reports from rights groups say that the state has begun a massive program of surveillance aimed at the protesters.
Police have been identifying and recording student protest leaders during rallies, sometimes asking students for the identification papers.
“The police are still allowed to check the identification cards of the protesters. That is still within the law but only certain ranks that are allowed to do so and state their purpose,” Anon told Thai Enquirer.
“Protesters are also allowed to check the identification of the police as well. But what the police cannot do is to take pictures of their identification cards and we have noticed that some officials are taking pictures of these identification cards.”
Rights groups have also warned that the police and the state are not above using disguised public health initiatives to mask recording technology. At one protest in Nonthaburi, a health checkpoint was present where student protesters had to identify themselves. Police said that the health checkpoint belonged to the Ministry of Public Health, something which health officials deny.
Infiltration of Educational Institutions
Sources within Universities and High Schools across Thailand have told Thai Enquirer that the state is asking for cooperation from politically active departments and for faculty to help identify protest leaders.
“This has been going on since the coup in 2014. The coup-makers who are still in power are trying to suppress students throughout the universities and they have been using different methods to pressure these universities,” said Dr Titipol Phakdeewanich, a political scientist at Ubon Ratchathani University.
Many of the small universities that are outside of Bangkok, to some extent, do not have many sources of income apart from the budget of the government, so by virtue, they have to be obedient,” he told Thai Enquirer. “But this is not the only reason because there are also many on the university boards that are quite conservative and are in favor of the military-led government”
According to at least three faculty members at Chulalongkorn and Thammasat University, who asked for anonymity fearing reprisal, the government has asked teachers to warn students about the dangers of protesting or asked lecturers to identify ‘troublesome’ student leaders to the authorities.
Faculty at various high schools inside Bangkok have also told Thai Enquirer of similar approaches by security forces. High school students have, in the past two weeks, joined their older compatriots in calling for institutional reform and a change in government.
Students have raised the three-finger anti-government salute during morning assembly and have called for protests on campus, something that conservative teachers across Thailand are fighting back against.
Rights groups have also reported instances of teachers revealing student names and addresses to police investigators.
“We believe that the teachers in the schools, in practice, protect the students. The question that should be asked is whether the police pressuring the schools and talking to the students is appropriate and should the schools be giving out student’s personal information if they are not breaking the law? Shouldn’t they protect the students?” said Anon.