Military officers tried to cancel a media workshop in the restive deep south, claiming that they were ordered by their superiors to do so. However, the event can be held at the end.
MIlitary officers from an unidentified unit on Friday morning contacted the Mayor of Bannang Sata district of the southern province of Yala, one of the three restive deep south provinces, to force the media workshop, organized by Wartani, a local media group, to cancel, only five minute before the workshop started.
The military officers claimed that they had received an order from their superiors to call off the workshop.
The workshop at the mayor house was part of Wartani’s media training program on peace journalism in the restive deep south of Thailand, which is scheduled to be held from 6-8 March. The organisers have informed the military officers about the workshop a month before.
After the incident, Wartani contacted Col Pramote Promin, the spokesperson of the 4th Region Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), to question over the order. Promin informed the group that the order has not been documented in the ISOC report and that the incident might result from misunderstandings.
In the end, the workshop was allowed to be held after the prefect of Bannang Sata coordinated with the authority.
About 50 people joined the workshop on Friday. Earlier, the training was organised in Wang subdistrict in Yala with roughly the same number of participants.