The Narathiwat Court today agreed to consider charges against seven officials allegedly responsible for the deadly crackdown on Thai-Muslim protesters in the “Tak Bai Incident” 20 years ago.
The charges include murder, attempted murder and unlawful detention. The first hearing will be held on September 12 at 9am.
The incident occurred on October 25, 2004, during a protest by approximately 1,500 Thai Muslims in front of the Tak Bai district police station in Narathiwat. They were protesting the detention of six men.
When the crowd attempted to cross the police barrier and enter the station, they were met with a barrage of tear gas and water cannons. The crowd responded by throwing stones. Police fired into the air and then at the protesters, resulting in seven deaths.
Almost 1,300 protesters were detained at the scene, with 78 dying of suffocation or organ failure after being stacked on top of each other in trucks during a five-hour journey to the Inkayut army camp in Pattani province.
