‘I thought they would kill me’: Thai dissidents targeted in brutal crackdown
Ever since sham elections in March, activists have been singled out in a series of brutal attacks as the military tightens its grip on power
The blows came hard and heavy on Sirawith Seritiwat’s head. The four men, dressed in motorcycle helmets, black gloves and balaclavas, brought their metal truncheons down again and again down onto the young activist’s face, shattering his nose and eye socket as blood poured from a wound in his head.
“I have never felt so much excruciating pain, I thought they would kill me,” said Sirawith, popularly known as “Ja New”. But as cries of “the police are coming” reverberated across the busy suburban Bangkok junction, the attackers jumped on motorcycles and drove off, disappearing as quickly as they had come.