PUBLISHED : 14 Feb 2024 at 05:07
Youth activist Tantawan Tuatulanon hit the headlines recently after repeatedly honking her car horn at a royal motorcade on Feb 4. She went on to conduct an opinion poll on Feb 10, asking people whether they thought royal motorcades caused traffic problems.
The 22-year-old activist was subsequently charged for causing a public disturbance.
She had previously conducted an opinion poll on Feb 8, 2022 also asking people whether they thought royal motorcades caused traffic problems.
In the recent case Ms Tantawan and a male friend appeared in a video clip shared on social media on Feb 7 honking the car horn at the royal motorcade of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, who was travelling on an expressway in Bangkok.
It appeared in the video that the motorcade was not blocking traffic and Ms Tantawan and her friend were trying to cut into the convoy’s lane.
When approached by a police officer, the pair aggressively objected.
A few days later on, Ms Tantawan and her activist group ran the opinion poll at the BTS Skytrain’s Siam Station in front of Siam Paragon, asking people whether royal motorcades could be deemed an inconvenience.
Ms Tantawan is the daughter of Sommai and Kalong Tuatulanont. She told the media she studied marketing at a university in Singapore before returning to Thailand during the Covid-19 pandemic.
She became interested in Thai politics after following news about the now-defunct Future Forward Party, since rebranded as the Move Forward Party (MFP), in 2020, before attending her first protest in August of that year.
Ms Tantawan registered as a volunteer protest guard with a WeVo group, led by Piyarat “Toto” Chongthep.
She then joined the Mok Luang Rim Nam group led by Sophon Suraritthamrong and started a movement after the disappearance of Wanchalearm Satsaksit, another political advocate who faced lese majeste charges and took refuge in Cambodia.
She claimed she later enrolled in Ramkhamhaeng University as a law student after quitting the other university in Singapore.
Ms Tantawan has been accused of twice violating the lese majeste law, or Section 112 of the Criminal Code.
The first accusation happened during the sticker poll at the Siam Paragon department store on Feb 8, 2022. She was later granted bail.
The second accusation was for hosting a livestream on her Facebook page when members of the royal family arrived at Ratchadamnoen Avenue on March 5, 2022.
Her bail was suspended on April 20, 2023, after the court saw she had tried to enter the arrival area without permission, and the questionable Facebook post was shared on her account.
She staged a hunger strike for 37 days during her detention at the Central Women’s Correctional Institution before Pita Limjaroenrat, MFP MP-list and then-leader, bailed her out.
Mr Pita was ordered by the court to keep an eye on her behaviour.
Ms Tantawan was arrested yesterday.