The Civil Rights Movement in Thailand was a small civil rights movement which occurred in Thailand from 1975 to 1976 as the countries Muslim minority demanded equality with the Buddhist majority.
Background
Thailand had experienced a large amount of racial tension between the Buddhist majority and the Muslim minority which mainly lived in the south. In late 1975 six young Muslims were traveling in a car through Pattani when they were stopped by soldiers. They were arrested, apparently for further questioning, but in fact were taken to a bridge, stabbed, and their bodies were thrown into the river. A fifteen year-old boy survived and swam ashore. The boy told other Muslims what had happened.
Residents of the boy’s village were incensed and filed a petition against the government. In this petition they recounted the story that the boy had told. They also claimed that government officials had bribed doctors at the hospital where the boy was taken for treatment to poison him in order to silence him. The villagers went on to state in the petition that if the government failed to acknowledge the incident they would protest.
Events
When the government failed to respond, students from Thammasat, Chulalongkorn, Ramkhamhaeng, Mahidon, and Chiang Mai universities organized a protest with a list of five demands.
- Murder suspects investigated and prosecuted if found guilty
- Families of the victims to be compensated
- Soldiers removed from the three southern provinces of Thailand
- Facts of the killings to be released to the public.
- The prime minister to meet the protesters and ensure their demands were met.
Protesters and activists threatened to be violence, and on the 13th of December and explosive was thrown into a crowd of protesters, killing between 11 and 25 people. The leader of the protests ran onto a stage after the explosion and pleaded with people not to leave before being shot to death. It is unknown if soldiers or Buddhist extremists organised the attacks. Of course, this led to the paradox of repression, and more protests came, lasting 47 days of continuous protests.
Results
By the 27th of January, the government agreed to all the demands of the protesters.
References
Global Nonviolent Action Database - Thai Muslims campaign for civil rights, 1975