BANGKOK, Nov 1 – Thais in a number of provinces began pouring out today to openly protest the Amnesty Bill passed this morning by the Lower House and pending approval by the Upper House.
In the northern province of Lampang – a turf of the pro-government Red Shirt group — leaders of the Network of Lampang Nationalists announced after a tense five-hour discussion their strong objection to the blanket amnesty and said they would display their dissatisfaction by publicly putting up anti-amnesty stickers and turning on the lights of their vehicles.
They promised to gather daily from 4 pm to 6 pm to vent their opposition to the bill. The network will issue a statement to emphasise its stand.
In Songkhla province in Thailand’s South, students, lecturers and administrators of the Faculty of Science, Prince of Songkhla University, strongly protested against the bill and announced that they would join other activist networks to rally at the provincial hall tomorrow.
In the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat, activists representing several groups began assembling at the provincial hall this afternoon.
Many leaders went on stage to verbally lash out at the blanket amnesty amid tight security by border patrol police and defence volunteers.
Motorists on roads leading to the demonstration site were carefully inspected.
