8 anti-coup protesters arrested in Thailand

Thai police have arrested eight people in the capital Bangkok for protesting against the country’s military junta which has recently seized power.

According to an unnamed police officer, all the arrests took place on Sunday in and around Siam Paragon, which is a crowded and chic shopping mall in downtown Bangkok.

Reports said half a dozen plainclothes police dragged away one man for reading a book.

Several other people were also arrested in the shopping mall’s food court for preparing to hand out sandwiches, in a move that mimicked another recent protest in which a small group of university students gave out what they described as “sandwiches for democracy.”

Thailand was rocked by nearly seven months of mass opposition protests against former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s government, which led to the coup by the army on May 22.

The junta then imposed martial law, media censorship and the night-time curfew as part of what it called an attempt to end years of political turmoil.

Military rulers have declared that an elected government will not take over for at least 15 months.

Earlier in June, army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha said an interim government would be installed in about three months and a temporary constitution would be drafted soon.