Symbol of Resistance Catching Fire in Bangkok

June 6, 2014 Leave a comment

Jun 2, 2014

Symbol of Resistance Catching Fire in Bangkok

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NEWLEY PURNELL

A woman holds up a three-fingered salute during a protest against the Thai military coup at a popular shopping mall in Bangkok on Sunday. The salute is from the movie “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.”

Anti-coup protesters in Thailand are adopting a symbol of resistance from a science fiction movie in which citizens struggle against a tyrannical government in a dark, dystopian future.

A few dozen demonstrators on Sunday gathered in a flash-mob style protest at a Bangkok shopping mall, where many held anti-army signs and raised their hands in a three fingered salute aimed at nearby troops.

The gestures were similar to those used by heroine Katniss Everdeen and other characters in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” a globally popular movie based on one of Suzanne Collins’s hit trilogy of books. Western films and other popular culture are widely consumed in Thailand.

In one memorable scene from the 2013 film, a crowd spontaneously uses the symbol to protest their ill-treatment at the hands of the government. An elderly man who prompts the mass use of the gesture is then hauled in front of a group of people by heavily armed security forces and shot in the head.

To the protesters, the gesture stands for civil and political rights, and reflects the drama and difficulty they face in trying to express themselves “under such overwhelming odds and censorship,” said Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch’s Asia director.

Since seizing power in a May 22 coup, Thailand’s army has banned gatherings of more than five people and said it won’t tolerate criticism of the armed forces on FacebookFB -0.35% or other social media.

One Thai user Monday posted a photo on Facebook of protesters making the three finger salute Sunday in Bangkok. The caption: “Thailand or Panem?”, a reference to the nation in which “The Hunger Games” takes place.

One TwitterTWTR -2.13% user posted images of characters making the gesture in “Catching Fire” alongside with images of protesters making the salute at Sunday’s protest.

“Will the junta ban the new ‘Hunger Games’ movie from Thailand?” another user wrote.

 

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