Soldiers and police officers have barred Muslim students to show solidarity with Palestine, saying it is their problem.
On 29 July 2017, about 60 soldiers and police officers from Bangsue Police Station both in uniforms and plainclothes disrupted the gathering of Muslim Students Federation of Thailand (MUSTFET) at Chatuchak Park in Bangkok.
The students organised a gathering titled ‘Save Al-Aqsa, Justice for Palestinian, Free Palestine’ in which they planned to hold a discussion, pray, and announce the group statement to show solidarity with the Palestinian people.
“This is an international relation issue which is not related to Thai people, so [we] don’t have to show any stand,” M Today news quoted one of the officers as saying.
The officers forced the organisers to cancel the event entirely, reasoning that it is prohibited under the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Head’s Order No. 3/2015, the junta’s gathering ban of five or more persons, and detained five of them for interrogation.
The police close the gates of the park and recorded the names of the participants of the event before they dispersed at around 3 pm.
To no avail, the organisers tried to negotiate with the officers to merely hold the discussion and prayer without reading the statement, but the officers threatened to call on reinforcement if the event was to go ahead.
Security officers prohibiting students to hold an event to show solidarity with Palestine at Chatuchak Park in Bangkok on 29 July 2015 (Photo from MUSTFET Facebook)