THAILAND: Students flee after military crackdown

Several Thai student leaders who had come out on the side of Red Shirt anti-government protesters in recent weeks were said to have fled Bangkok after receiving threats from Yellow Shirt pro-government groups.

Despite the three-day curfew imposed on Bangkok and other provinces in the wake of Wednesday's government crackdown, unconfirmed reports said an unknown number of students had gone underground, dispersing to areas outside the capital.

According to the Financial Times on Friday, more than 80 people had been killed during the bloody demonstrations over the past 10 days.

"Student activists and leaders, including the Secretary General of the Students Federation of Thailand, received email threats from pro-government groups of people who support the crackdown because the students spoke against the government's excessive use of force," said Pokpong Lawansiri, a World Bank scholar at University College London and an overseas facilitator for the student movement.

"We are receiving news of students leaving Bangkok for the south [of Thailand]," Pokpong said. "They are expecting a witch hunt after the crackdown."

He said students also feared retaliation because "the Red Shirts have turned very violent". Many members of the federation had been branded Red Shirts by the authorities because they had spoken out against the government.

The federation's Secretary General Anuthee Dejthewaporn was among those said to have left the capital. He shut down his email and Facebook accounts after it was rumoured the authorities were seeking out students through their Facebook accounts.

Anuthee and two other students were summoned to the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation headquarters on 5 May and interrogated for several hours.

Benjamin Zawacki of Amnesty International in Bangkok said the intention of the authorities in summoning the students was not clear. "Perhaps it was for intelligence purposes or for intimidation."

But he said it appeared to indicate the authorities were looking closely at the students.

Another of those summoned on 5 May was Suluck Lamubol (pictured above), a member of the federation's executive committee who stayed in Bangkok. Rather than break the curfew "it is safer to stay and lie quiet", she told University World News.

Suluck did not know the whereabouts of Anuthee. "I do not know his exact location or whether he is in Bangkok but many friends and students have fled to provinces where there is no security act and no emergency act," she said.

Thailand's Internal Security Act allows the security forces to impose curfews, set up checkpoints and restrict the movement of protesters. The Emergency Act, currently in place in 20 provinces, puts more power in the hands of the military and includes bans on public gatherings of more than five people. It also allows security officials to detain suspects without charge for up to 30 days.

Suluck put the number who had left Bangkok at between five and 10 members of the federation.

In an indication the crackdown may have simply radicalised those who had not previously taken sides, increasing the polarisation of views among Thais, Suluck said many of the students who were not active had become less neutral after the events of last week.

"The number who have a view on this conflict has multiplied. They appear to have chosen one side or another," she said.

Until the Thai military cleared the streets of the Red Shirt protesters last Wednesday, universities and schools in Bangkok had been shut, alongside many businesses and the transport system as anti-government rallies and violent unrest continued in the Thai capital.

* See also Duncan McCargo's informative account of the Thai crisis in The Telegraph