THAI ARMY CHIEF TO VISIT PATTANI MOSQUE RALLY

Council for National Security (CNS) chairman Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratkalin will visit Pattani, the current focal point of Thailand’s southern unrest, to try to defuse tensions, as attacks against local residents, government officials and security forces intensify, and local Muslim students and people of all ages are rallying at a Pattani mosque, amid rising tension and…

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June 17, 2022

Council for National Security (CNS) chairman Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratkalin will visit Pattani, the current focal point of Thailand’s southern unrest, to try to defuse tensions, as attacks against local residents, government officials and security forces intensify, and local Muslim students and people of all ages are rallying at a Pattani mosque, amid rising tension and confusion.

Army Chief Gen. Sonthi decided to revisit the troubled region himself after a 90-minute meeting with the prime minister discussing the ongoing militant attacks which left several soldiers dead and scores wounded among police and military in recent days, and also rising numbers of civilian casualties without clear explanation.

Prime Minister Surayud said Gen. Sonthi will also visit the rally at Pattani’s central mosque, and meet with Muslim religious leaders in an attempt to prevent the demonstration from getting out of hand. Muslim students and a wider spectrum of the local population demonstrated at the Pattani religious centre and submitted 10 demands, including a call to withdraw military rangers from the region and lifting the curfew imposed by the government. Police and military have surrounded the mosque and cut cell phone signals in the area to prevent the situation from being further aggravated.

The demonstration reached its climax when protesters blocked three roads leading to Hat Yai district, Narathiwat and Yala, preventing vehicles from passing through to those areas. The blockade lasted about two-and-a-half hours and the protesters eventually allowed traffic to resume.