Four leading labour activists were summoned by the police for speaking at rallies organised by student movements between February and August 2021. They were associated with the Labour Network for People’s Rights (LNPR), a network formed in 2020 to demand that the Thai government stop harassing people participating in pro-democracy protests. The protest movement began following irregularities in Thailand’s general election in 2019 and the subsequent forced dissolution of an opposition party by the constitutional court.
The four activists – Sia Jampathong, president of Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation of Thailand (TWFT); Tanaporn Wijan, leader of the Building and Wood Industrial Council of Thailand (BWICT); together with Suthila Leunkam and Sriprai Nonsee – were summoned and questioned under the terms of the Emergency Decree and the Disease Control Act.
Ironically, the protests also criticised the government for mismanaging the COVID-19 pandemic and delaying the distribution of vaccines to the people.
