Thanathorn to be charged over rally

Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit waves to party supporters who answered his call to join a gathering on the skywalk over Pathumwan intersection to voice dissent against the government on Dec 14. (Photo by Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)
Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit waves to party supporters who answered his call to join a gathering on the skywalk over Pathumwan intersection to voice dissent against the government on Dec 14. (Photo by Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)

Police have issued summonses for Future Forward Party members to acknowledge charges relating to the flash mob on the Skywalk at Pathumwan intersection in Bangkok on Dec 14.

FFP leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, and party member Pairatchote Chantarakhachorn, have been summoned to report to Pathumwan police by Friday.

Other organisers of the rally are protected by parliamentary immunity due to their status as MPs.

According to police, the rally organisers broke the public assembly law by failing to inform police of their plans in advance, blocking a railway station, failing to control rally participants, and using loudhailers in public without permission from authorities.

The rally was called by Mr Thanathorn after the Election Commission (EC) decided to ask the Constitutional Court to disband FFP for accepting a 191-million-baht loan from him to finance its election campaigns -- a violation of a law for political parties.

Last month, the court disqualified Mr Thanathorn as an MP after ruling he failed to transfer his shares in a media company when he registered his candidacy for the March general election.

Meanwhile, an opinion survey by the National Institute for Development Administration, or Nida Poll, showed respondents are split over the "flash mob" organised by Mr Thanathorn at the Pathumwan skywalk -- with the number of supporters slightly higher than opponents.

Vocabulary

  • assembly: bringing together and forming a group - การนำมาร่วมกัน
  • candidacy: the fact of being a candidate (= a person competing for a position) in an election - การเป็นผู้สมัคร,การเสนอตัว
  • Constitutional Court (noun): the court that decides whether or not laws follow the constitution - ศาลรัฐธรรมนูญ
  • disband: (of a group) to end; to stop working together - ยุบ, เลิก,ทำให้สลาย
  • disqualification: a decision not to allow someone to do something because they have done something wrong - การตัดสิทธิ
  • Election Commission (EC) (noun): the independent government agency that oversees elections - คณะกรรมการเลือกตั้ง
  • immunity: a situation in which someone is not affected by something because they have a special position or job - ได้รับการพิทักษ์ คุ้มกัน
  • inform: to tell somebody about something, especially in an official way - แจ้งให้ทราบ
  • loan: an amount of money that a person, business, or country borrows, especially from a bank - เงินกู้
  • loud hailer (also megaphone): a piece of equipment that can by carried by a person that changes electrical signals into sounds so that large numbers of people can hear someone speaking - โทรโข่ง, เครื่องกระจายเสียง
  • opponent: someone who disagrees with you or who is competing against you - ผู้ไม่เห็นด้วยกับ, ฝ่ายตรงข้าม
  • participants (noun): people who take part in something - ผู้เข้าร่วม
  • share: any of the units of equal value into which a company is divided and sold to raise money. People who own shares receive part of the company's profits - หุ้น
  • summon: to officially order someone to come to a place - เรียกตัว
  • summons (noun): an official document that orders someone to appear in a court of law or a police station - หมายเรียก

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