Protesters at an candidate registration site yesterday. Photo: Voice TV’s Subongkoch Sukkaew
Anti-government protesters seeking to disrupt the electoral process in their campaign to pull down Thailand’s elected government don’t seem too keen on a free press either.
Assaulted, confined and disrupted during their attempt to cover yesterday’s siege of political party registrations, Thai media have pulled back from covering the protests.
Yesterday while covering the situation at the Thai-Japanese Stadium in Din Daeng, an MCOT broadcast journalist said she was assaulted for statements she never made, 40 journalists became trapped for hours and a Channel 7 reporter’s work was stopped by angy demonstrators. Also a Thai PBS reporter had to hide inside a competitor’s news van after protesters mistakenly identified him as a political candidate.
Supporters of the People’s Democratic Reform Committee have blocked access to the stadium since Sunday evening to prevent the registration of party candidates for the Feb. 2 election.
Some parties did manage to either register by either sneaking into the stadium early in the morning, or registering their intent at a nearby police station, which protesters then surrounded and cut off from electricity and water.
Last month an independent foreign reporter had to be protected by police after being called out from stage as a red shirt supporter.
Thai media organizations asked PDRC leader Suthep Thaugsuban yesterday to respect the freedom of the press.
Suthep asked his supporters to not interfere with the media because, he said, they share the views of anti-government protesters. He blamed editors and news room staff for what he claims are distorted reports, Bangkok Post reported.
