News photographer placed under surveillance, harassed by police

On 15 April 2023, a news photographer told Prachatai news site that plainclothes police officers had taken up positions around his condominium in an apparent surveillance operation for the past 2 weeks, shortly after his encounter with the police near the Grand Palace (see entry for 29 March 2023). The photographer said the men identified themselves to the building management as members of the Metropolitan Police Bureau's investigation division and attempted to secure security camera footage from the condominium that showed his movement without court warrant. A video taken by the photographer also shows one of the individuals behaving in an aggressive manner toward him when he confronted the group and asked them to leave. The photographerh as subsequently tried to lodge a criminal complaint at a local police station against the individuals, but officer in charge refused to take up the case, citing insufficient evidence. As of the time this report is logged (May 2023), the surveillance is still ongoing.