The authority used martial law to removed banners of students protesting against Mae Wong Dam on campus and threatened them with arrest to force them to cancel the rally.
Police officers on Tuesday afternoon intervened and ordered a rally against the conduct of Environmental Health Impact Assessment (EHIA) on the construction of Mae Wong Dam organized by students from Kasetsart University in Bang Khen, east of Bangkok, to be cancelled, while threatening to arrest students, according to Matichon.
Mae Wong Dam is a controversial embankment dam project on Sakae Krang River of the western province of Nakhon Sawan, design to offset the monsoon flood in of central Thailand. The 13 billion baht (about 400 million USD) project has encountered strong resistance since it was proposed in 2012 because the dam will flood approximately 5,100 acre of Mae Wong National Park.
Police officers detain students planning to stage rally against the construction of Mae Wong Dam temporarily on 18 November 2014 in Kasetsart University, Bang Khen Campus, east of Bangkok. (courtesy of Abhisit Sapnaphapan)
Despite the intimidation from the police at the protest today, the students, however, was determined to continue with the rally and pointed out the rally was not related to politics, but environment.
While the rally was halted and surrounded by the police, the student repeatedly shouted, “We want alternatives to manage the water....no to Mae Wong Dam.”
After an hour long negotiation between the university instructors, the police, and students, however, the students decided to call off the rally, but continued the protest in campus.
On October 2013, the protests against the dam was held in central and was participated by a large crowd of student, environmental NGOs and activists. However, on Tuesday afternoon, students reported that the many police officers came to monitor the protests and asked students to cancel rally when it was still in campus because of the martial law.