The anti-junta march has called for legal protection after the authorities searched their supply trucked, detained four protesters and intimidated a temple that sheltered them.

 

On 22 January 2018, the third day of the rally “We Walk, A Walk for Friendship” from Bangkok to Khon Kaen, the march organiser, petitioned the Administrative Court to grant them legal protection after facing repeated intimidation from the authorities.

 

Organised by a group of civil rights activists called the People Go Network, The rally kicked off at Thammasat University’s Rangsit campus with four main agendas: the right to universal health care, the rights of farmers, community and environmental rights, and the Constitution. 

 

Since the beginning, the rally has faced various interruptions by the police and soldiers. On the first day, the authorities blocked the activists from exiting Thammasat University, claiming the march violated the junta’s ban on public gatherings of five people or more. The protesters then divided into groups of four people and marched from the university group by group.

 

A day after, Ayutthaya police officers searched their supply trucks and briefly detained four protesters for interrogation. The protesters had to start the march earlier than plan after the authorities pressured an Ayutthaya temple which sheltered them.

 

“There is intimidation against every temple and every place. They called temples to intimidate abbots into not allowing the group to stay overnight,” Lertsak Kumkongsak, a community rights activist and one of the event organisers, told the media.

 

Despite the intimidation, the protesters continued their march and already arrived at Saraburi, the gateway province to the Northeastern region.