Former Thai Education Minister Chaturon Chaisang, center, who had been on the run after refusing to turn himself in to the military after being summoned, is surrounded by soldiers and reporters as he is being detained after giving a talk at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand in Bangkok on Tuesday. — Reuters BANGKOK — Stern warnings from Thailand's military junta to stop criticizing the coup have not deterred protesters, who have been gathering and staring down soldiers in defiance of martial law. The numbers have been relatively small: Several hundred people gathered Monday at Victory Monument and eventually dispersed on their own, vowing to return the next day. “Freedom is more important, isn't it?” said Khao Thitipong. “If we don't have freedom, we don't have life.” Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, the nation's new military ruler, warned coup opponents Monday not to protest, saying the nation could revert to the “old days” of turmoil and street violence if they did. “Right now there are people coming out to protest. So do you want to go back to the old days?” Prayuth said in his first public appearance since the coup. “I'm asking the people in the country, if you want it that way, then I will have to enforce the law.” Monday's protest was tense but nonviolent, as others have been since last week, when the army first declared martial law and then announced it was taking over the government. Through a loudspeaker, a soldier taunted the protesters, saying they had been paid to come out. “Can you still call yourselves patriots?” he said. The soldier also accused international journalists at the scene of inciting conflict. “Do you think they are good for Thailand?” he said, before addressing them directly in English: “Foreign media, you be careful.” In a gruff, 20-minute appearance at the army headquarters in Bangkok, Prayuth warned the media and social media users to avoid doing anything that could fan the conflict. Dressed in a crisp white military uniform, Prayuth said he had to restore order after seven months of increasingly violent confrontations between the now-ousted government and demonstrators who had long urged the army to intervene. “I'm not here to argue with anyone. I want to bring everything out in the open and fix it “Everyone must help me,” he said. “Do not criticize, do not create new problems. It's no use.” The tough words came as an aide to former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said she had been released Monday from military custody after being held for three days at an undisclosed location without access to a telephone. The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said Yingluck had returned to her home. Earlier Monday, a royal command sent in the name of King Bhumibol Adulyadej officially endorsed Prayuth to run the country and called for “reconciliation among the people.” — AP
