Activist Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal stands outside the Chinese embassy in Bangkok with a box of commemorative cookies he made with fellow rights activists to commemorate the communist government's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989. (Photo: Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal)
Thai police prevented a commemoration on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre from taking place outside the Chinese embassy in Bangkok. Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, the event’s young organizer, didn’t take it lying down, though.
A group of young activists, led by Netiwit, applied for a permit earlier this week so that they could hold a candlelight vigil in memory of the victims of the bloody crackdown by Chinese security forces on June 4, 1989.
However, police refused to grant permission, citing fears about the spread of the coronavirus. The young activist pooh-poohed that excuse. “This is a protest [planned] in Thailand — what right does a foreign embassy have to stop it?” the young activist asked.