Belligerent youths hunt for progressive student activist

Two belligerent youths have entered Chulalongkorn University to look for Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, a progressive student activist recently elected as the Student Council’s president of Chulalongkorn University .    

At 11 am on 8 May 2017, two individuals rode a motorcycle onto the university’s campus in Bangkok and visited the Political Science Faculty to look for Netiwit.

The two reportedly used threatening language to ask for the whereabouts of the student activist.

Netiwit has filed a complaint to Pathumwan District Police Station about the incident.

“Please give me and the new generation opportunities to prove ourselves. If [you] think differently, it is alright, but we should talk if [you] really love Thai society. Do not let the world and other people see that our society is a barbaric one that favours violence. I am afraid of course, but I shall continue to fight,” Netiwit wrote on his Facebook account.

The 21-year-old political science student first made a name for himself by refusing to prostrate in front of the Statue of King Chulalongkorn during an annual university ceremony to pay respect to the late monarch.   

Netiwit and his political groups have also been active in campaigning against the university’s hazing rituals and for progressive educational reform.

After he won the Student Council presidential election last week, many conservative and ultra-royalist Thais argued that his progressive and anti-junta political stance should disqualify him from becoming student president.

Netiwit has filing a complaint to Pathumwan District Police Station on 8 May 2017 (Photo from Netiwit's Facebook)

The two individuals looking for Netiwit in Chulalongkorn University's campus in Bangkok on 8 May 2017

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