Quickly taking advantage of the military coup in Thailand, protesters at the site of a toxic gold mine in Loei province, were tied hand and foot, blindfolded, and beaten for hours by armed, extremely coordinated masked men numbering in the hundreds and operating just like... the military.
Loei is in the NE on the Lao border up above Nong Khai. The gold mine had been leaking cyanide and mercury from it's sludge ponds and poisoning villagers for years.
Asian Correspondet had the best wrap up but I read eyewitness reporting in a local paper clearly indicating a local general and his son.
The police are more local and normally keep these kinds of things from happening. Many high level policemen have been fired or transferred due to purges from the coup. There has also been widespread confiscation of arms from provincial authorities, local businessmen, and others who had legal arms. The army holds the real power, and they just took over the government. I could just as easily imagine 40 people executed if this thing turns into a civil war.
Most reporting on the coup comes from Bangkok where there are scores of foreign reporters and an expat community in the thousands. Much less is known of goings on in the further reaches of "the kingdom". Loie or other provinces might have a hundred foreign residents most of whom are unaware of anything. The army has complete control of radio, TV, and the newspapers. Two hundred web sites and many facebook accounts have been shut down.
The number of the intelligentsia called in for questioning and detention is still relatively small but the detentions are used to bring fear to those who might have influence. They announce every evening the names of those who must report the next day. Every blogger I read who lives in Thailand has changed what and how they write.
I'm not posting any photos as I don't like photos of beat up people.
I think this loss of civilian control of government is a bad thing.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/...