20 October 2016•Update: 20 October 2016
By Max Constant
BANGKOK
Thai police announced Thursday that they are searching for a man who claims to be cruising the streets looking to shoot those who defame the monarchy.
The incident is the latest in a series of incidents where those seen as not supportive of the continuing mass wake for King Bhumibol Adulyadej have been targeted with violence.
A 12-minute video uploaded to Facebook shows the clearly distraught man driving a car with two handguns at his side. He alternates between crying and threatening to kill anyone caught defaming the late king.
“The king is gone, why are you still criticizing him? If you don’t love the king I don’t mind but I love him,” he says.
“Why are you defaming the king? I feel like crying. If I see these foul-mouthed people, I will shoot them all.”
On Thursday, Lt-Col. Pongsiri Kengnok told Khaosod news site that police are trying to find him.
"We will first try to verify if the guns are real and whether or not he has a license,” he said.
“There must be more than circumstantial evidence to determine whether the man intends to kill someone."
The incident occurred as junta chief-cum-prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha warned against punitive actions by the public targeting critics of the monarchy.
Since the king's death Oct. 13, there have been multiple incidents of people accused of posting insulting comments about the monarchy on social networks or of having behaved offensively towards the royal family.
Over the weekend, the houses of two people who posted comments on the late king were surrounded by angry crowds, while on Sunday, a 43-year-old woman was forced to prostate herself in front of a portrait of the king after an “inappropriate” Facebook post.
The incidents have continued through this week.
On Monday, an elderly mentally ill woman was removed from a bus by police and slapped across her face by another passenger after mutterings about the king, while Tuesday saw a man violently beaten by a crowd after a Facebook post.
His head and face bloodied, he was forced to bow in front of a portrait of the king.
On Wednesday, a government spokesman quoted Chan-ocha as appearing to lay most of the blame on the voices of dissent.
“Don’t try to provoke any conflict at the moment, and don’t get the monarchy involved in any conflict. Now is the time for all of us to unite,” Gen. Sansern Kaewkamnerd said.
He added that the junta leader had underlined that “it is [still] wrong for the public to use violence against them”.
Earlier this week, however, the country's minister of justice appeared to approve of such ultra-royalist vigilantism.
“Nothing is better than social sanctions [against lese-majeste acts],” Matichon newspaper reported Gen. Paiboon Koomchaya as saying Tuesday.
He also encouraged Thais in foreign countries to do the same.
According to Thai Police Chief Gen. Chakthip Chaijinda 12 people have been charged with lese-majeste since the king's death -- a seven-day record.
