'Keep On Fighting': Detained Thai Lawyer Keeps Up Rallying Cries

Bangkok, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Oct, 2020 ) :Rallying from behind bars in northern Thailand, Anon Numpa urged supporters Friday to keep fighting for democracy -- still defiant months after his fiery speeches fuelled a movement calling for reforms to the ultra-powerful monarchy.

Student leaders and activists have kept up relentless protests, demanding the government step down.

But this week tensions ratcheted sharply as activists dared to surround a royal motorcade carrying the queen.

The government issued an emergency decree in response, banning gatherings of more than four people and arresting around two dozen of the most prominent protesters, including human rights lawyer Anon.

He wrote on Facebook he had been forcibly taken by helicopter to Chiang Mai, where his lawyer confirmed he had been refused bail.

In a handwritten message posted online, Anon urged his supporters to "keep on fighting".

"My freedom is a very small issue compared to the entire struggle for democracy," he wrote.

"Adhere to the ideology of non-violence and do not be afraid of any obstacles." Anon has spent his career defending those charged under Thailand's draconian royal defamation laws, which can see people jailed for up to 15 years per charge.

But in August the 36-year-old stepped into the limelight by calling for frank discussions on the monarchy at a rally in Bangkok.

His speech sent a lightning bolt through Thailand's royalist establishment, smashing a long-held taboo.

"I had to come out and be on the frontlines," Anon told AFP in an interview last month, knowing the decision would make him a prime target.

"It is not right for me -- an activist and a lawyer who deals with human rights and is watched by the media -- to hide behind the people on the ground."