A group of anti-government protesters on Friday lodged a complaint with the Civil Court to seek damages of more than 3 million baht from the Royal Thai Police (RTP) over its dispersal of a demonstration in front of parliament in November last year.
Nine protesters said they were negatively affected by a police crackdown on a demonstration on Nov 17 last year and filed a complaint against the RTP and the national police chief, seeking damages totalling 3,020,147 baht.
The group was accompanied by Angkhana Neelapaijit, a human rights activist, and Chonthicha Chaengrew, a co-leader of the Ratsadon protest group.
The protesters also asked the court to issue measures to prevent the police from obstructing rallies or using force to disperse future protests.
Ms Angkhana said that during the dispersal, riot police fired water cannon at protesters, injuring nine of them, adding each protester is seeking damages of about 300,000 baht.
Evidence, including photos taken during the dispersal and medical certificates, were also submitted along with the complaint, she said.
Ms Chonthicha said that a parliament session was in progress and protesters had not yet begun their demonstration but police set up barricades to block them and used water cannon to disperse them.
She said the protesters informed police of their planned rally in advance, in line with the public assembly law.
Ms Chonthicha claimed that police did not hold talks with protesters to avoid a violent confrontation.
Amarin Saichan, a lawyer representing the protesters, said that the complaint was intended to show that obstructing the right to assemble must be scrutinised.
He said the court has also been asked to issue rulings to prevent the authorities from using force against demonstrators at future rallies.
On Nov 17 last year, chaos broke out outside of parliament as police used water cannon to fire teargas solution to disperse anti-government demonstrators who tried to break police lines, barbed wire and barriers to get to the gates of parliament.
At least 18 people were hurt in the violent confrontation.
Demonstrators converged on parliament to put pressure on lawmakers discussing changes to the constitution. The protesters wanted the removal of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and called for reform of the monarchy.