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A30 world news
Diamars 20 OctOber 2020

Thai authorities seek to censor coverage of student protests

Kissana Phataracharoen also responsive to criticism, and
confirmed an order signed by could stir up even more pub-
the chief of police that could lic anger.”
allow officials to block access
to news sites that give what “Bona fide journalists should
he called “distorted informa- be allowed to report impor-
tion.” tant developments without
the threat of bans, suspen-
Under existing laws, the Na- sions, censorship or prosecu-
tional Broadcasting and Tele- tion hanging over them,” the
communications Commis- club said in a statement.
sion and the Ministry of Dig-
ital Economy and Society are Despite the spread of protests
empowered to ban broadcasts outside the capital, Prayuth,
and block internet content. the prime minister, told re-
Police themselves can also do porters the state of emergen-
so under the emergency de- cy will remain only in Bang-
cree, which went into effect kok for now.
Oct. 15. In addition the emergency
decree making protests il-
Kissana spoke after a leaked legal, authorities have also
copy of the censorship re- tried in vain to keep people
quest circulated on social from gathering by selectively
media. The order calls for shutting down stations on
blocking access to the online Bangkok’s mass transit lines.
sites of Voice TV, The Re- It has also warned that it will
(AP) — Thai authorities Prayuth, an army command- confirmed reports that the porters, The Standard, Pra- take legal action against those
worked Monday to stem er who led a 2014 coup, was agency had been ordered to chatai, and Free Youth, and who promote the protests on
a growing tide of protests returned to power unfairly block access to the messaging removing their existing con- social media, including by
calling for the prime min- in last year’s general elec- app Telegram. Suthisak Tan- tent. It also proposes a ban on taking photographs there or
ister to resign by threaten- tion because laws had been tayothin said it was talking Voice TV’s over-the-air digi- checking into them on social
ing to censor news cover- changed to favor a pro-mili- with internet service provid- tal broadcasts. media apps.
age, raiding a publishing tary party. The protesters say ers about doing so, but so far All the outlets have been
house and attempting to a constitution written and the encrypted messaging app broadcasting live coverage Despite that, protest-related
block the Telegram mes- passed under military rule is favored by many demonstra- of the protests. Voice TV hashtags remain the most
saging app used by dem- undemocratic. tors around the world was and Prachatai are openly used on Twitter.
onstrators. still available in the country. sympathetic to the protest
But their more recent de- movement, and Free Youth One of the many student
The efforts by Prime Min- mand for checks and bal- Police also searched the office is a student protest organi- groups involved in organiz-
ister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s ances on the monarchy has of a publishing house that zation. As of Monday, none ing the protests, Free Youth,
government to drain the stu- deeply angered conservative handles books by Thai and had been blocked. At least recently said its Facebook ac-
dent-led protests of support Thais — and broken a taboo foreign scholars with some- one local cable TV provider, count might soon be blocked
and the ability to organize since the monarchy is con- times controversial perspec- however, has been censoring and asked people to sign up
comes as demonstrations sidered sacrosanct and tough tives. Same Sky publishing international news broadcasts for Telegram. Within about a
have grown in the capital and laws protecting it from insult house said police took away during their segments on the day, it had 200,000 subscrib-
spread around the country, mean its role is not usually copies of three titles that had Thai protests. ers on the app.
despite an emergency decree, discussed openly. It has also been sold at a recent book fair
which bans public gatherings raised the risk of confronta- in a bundle it called Monar- The Foreign Correspondents Prayuth said Monday that the
of more than four people in tion in a country where calls chy Studies, and asked their Club of Thailand said it was government is open to an ex-
Bangkok, outlaws news said for political change have a publisher to come for ques- “deeply concerned” by the traordinary session of Parlia-
to affect national security and history of being met with tioning at their station. censorship threat, adding that ment to seek a solution to the
gives authorities broad power military intervention or even it “makes the government ap- current situation. It was not
to detain people. violence. Deputy police spokesman pear heavy-handed and un- clear when that might be held

Thousands of mostly young Authorities have used water
protesters massed in north- canons to disperse protesters
ern Bangkok on Monday eve- in recent days and detained
ning, as they have in various some. Several protest leaders
locations in the capital over who were arrested for trying
the past six days to push their to stage an overnight rally last
demands, including a contro- week outside the prime min-
versial call for reform of the ister’s office were freed by an
monarchy. At one point, they appeals court Monday. Pro-
raised their arms in unison test-related charges are still
and flashed a three-fingered pending against them.
salute, a sign of resistance
borrowed from “The Hun- Authorities are now increas-
ger Games” movie series. ingly turning to censorship
As night fell, they held their to try to clamp down on the
cellphones up, and the points demonstrations after protest-
of light dotted the crowd. ers heckled a royal motorcade
last week in a once unthink-
Elsewhere, protesters gath- able scene.
ered outside a prison where
more than a dozen demon- With protests continuing, a
strators were being held. top official with the National
Broadcasting and Telecom-
The protesters charge that munications Commission