[Update] 3 people detained related to Hunger Games premiere 3 in Bangkok

Submitted on Thu, 20 Nov 2014 - 12:02 PM

Update: At around 1:30pm, the police arrested Natchacha Kongudom, a Bangkok University student at Siam Paragon's cinema, after she raised three fingered salute in front of the Hunger Game 3 poster when she received a free ticket from the LLTD. She told the press that she came to screen the movie alone because its content is related to the current Thai politics.

At 3pm, while Rattapon and Champ who were arrested earlier were still detained at the police station, the military has taken Natcha to the military base at Chong Nonsi.

Earlier Natcha told Prachatai that she came alone, knew that she might be arrested but she was not afraid.

At 3.50pm, Rattapon and Champ were released without charge. The police merely wrote a record on the police's daily report.

At around 7.30pm, Natchacha was released from the military base with no charge. The military asked her to stop all political activites.

Rattapon Supsopon, a core member of the League of Liberal Thammasat for Democracy (LLTD), was arrested at the Scala cinema on Thursday at 12.10 pm after the student activist insisted that the group will hold a screening of Hunger Games 3, while "Champ", an anti-coup activist who had been arrested for eating a sandwich and reading George Orwell's novel ‘1984’, was arrested after he brought a Hunger Games ticket to get a refund from the cinema.

Earlier the Scala and Lido cinemas, under the same company, were reportedly forced to cancel all screenings of Hunger Games 3: Mockingjay Part 1, as the LLTD planned to use one of the cinemas to screen the movie and hold an activity, allegedly related to anti-coup activities. On Wednesday morning another group of student activists called "Dao Din" in the Northeast had used the three-fingered salute, adopted from the movie, to protest against the coup.

After the announcement by the cinema chain on Wednesday evening, the LLTD insisted they will still hold the activity at noon on Thursday.

Rattapon Supsopon, a core member of the LLTD, told reporters that their activity is not related to the Dao Din group as they planned and announced the screening before Wednesday. They also said that the group is also interested in issues other than politics, including movies and music.

Pol Col Kittikorn Boonsom told reporters at the cinema that these students should do something else, such as planting and camping. Anyone who wants to have a say in the reform process should express their opinions at the forums provided. He also insisted that this is not an arrest, but a talk for "attitude adjustment."

Meanwhile, as the group insisted that they will continue their activities, the rest of the LLTD gave 20 free movie tickets for the 12.40 pm screening of the Hunger Games at Siam Paragon.