The police arrest of student activists for their white bows campaign was an unnecessary attempt to enforce the city's cleanliness law and could be seen as a veiled threat to freedom of expression.
Police arrested four students on Tuesday evening after they tied white bows at public places in Bangkok including the Royal Thai Army headquarters and Victory Monument.
The activity is part of the White Bows for Justice campaign held by the Student Union of Thailand.
The campaign's goal is to demand justice for exiled political activist Wanchalearm Satsaksit who went missing in an incident described as an enforced disappearance outside his apartment in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, last Thursday.
An anti-coup activist, Mr Wanchalearm was wanted for defying a summons to report to the now-defunct National Council of Peace and Order (NCPO) and for violation of the Computer Crime Act by running a Facebook page critical of the government.
Claiming harassment and threats to his life, Mr Wanchalearm went into self-imposed exile in Cambodia for six years.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Mr Wanchalearm was abducted by a group of armed men in broad daylight. They cited witnesses and CCTV images.
Cambodian police, however, initially refused to investigate, saying they knew nothing about it.
The Cambodian authorities only agreed to look into the alleged abduction on Tuesday though they denied any involvement.
Thai authorities stayed quiet about the disappearance too, until it became high-profile news with popular hashtags on social media and celebrities chiming in to ask what had happened to the exiled Thai activist.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday said it has asked the embassy in Phnom Penh to check on Mr Wanchalearm's whereabouts.
The four arrested white bow students were trying to tie a bow to the gate at the Democracy Monument when police stopped them and took them to Samran Rat police station.
Police later charged three of them with violating the cleanliness law and failing to carry an ID card before they were released the same evening.
The charges are petty and carry a fine of a few thousand baht if upheld.
It begs the question though why police had to be crack down on the symbolic activity as it was causing no damage to public property and was unlikely to cause trouble among the general public.
It is undeniable that the white bows campaign carries political overtones as it demands justice for an anti-government activist.
But the symbolic activity is essentially a move to remind people that justice must be served regardless of political orientation.
Most important of all, the white bows send a strong message that enforced disappearance is a hideous crime that must be stopped.
Slapping the non-violent, symbolic campaign with a charge alleging violation of the cleanliness law seems misplaced at best. At worst, the police's action can be construed as an attempt to suppress the students' right to freedom of expression and their effort to draw the public's attention to a fair and just cause.
That would appear to be a disproportionate price to pay to maintain cleanliness in the city, especially if the outcome is increased public scrutiny of government attempts to stifle freedom of speech.