In a bid to stop the political activities of student activists, the military officers intimidates 17 student activists by paying visits to their places, dorms, and parent’s places.
The Thai Student Center for Democracy (TSCD), a student activist group, on Wednesday revealed on the group facebook page that since 19 March, 17 student activists were intimidated by military officers, who came to visit their houses.
“The military and police officers both in uniforms and plainclothes raided, carried out searches, and talked to the students’ parents and student activists, who have records of political movement since the 2014 coup d’état in an attempt to adjust their attitudes,” wrote the TSCD on facebook.
At 1.30pm on Wednesday three police officers from the Special Branch Royal Thai Police (SBP), a police unit responsible for national security intelligence, visited parents of Natchacha Kongudom, a prominent TSCD student activist from Bangkok University, in the northeastern province of Nong Khai.
On the same day, several military officers visited parents of Rangsiman Rome, another prominent student activist from the League of Liberal Thammasat for Democracy (LLTD), another activist group based on Thammasat University.
Both Natchacha and Rangsiman participated in the protest in front of Bangkok’s military court on 16 March to support the four embattled anti-junta activists from the Resistant Citizen, an anti-junta activist group, who were charged with defying the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Order No. 7/2014 for holding a political gathering of more than five people on 14 February.
In addition, on Wednesday Seri Kasetsart, a student activist group based in Kasetsart University in Bangkok, revealed on the group’s facebook page that on Wednesday evening security officers in plainclothes visited the house of Athiwich Pattamapornsirigun, a leading member of the group.
Athiwich was not at his house during the officers’ visit. However, the officers talked to his family members and told them to send him a message that he should not engage in any political activity.
Seri Kasetsart is the student group which actively campaigns against the privatisation of public universities, such as the privatisation of Kasetsart University and Thammasat University.
After the incident, the group urged the junta to refrain from any dictatorial action.
Seri Kasetsart is one of the student groups that rallied in front of the National Parliament against the university privatisation on Thursday morning.