CityNews – 22nd April 2020, a human rights lawyer has asked the local authorities for leniency for two homeless men arrested for breaking curfew.
Police arrested two homeless men recently for breaking curfew, leading to outrage on social media. The man had no money to pay the fine and were placed in jail following court order.
Pikanet Prawang, the human rights lawyer, said that while volunteers were handing out food to the needy in Chiang Mai they heard about two homeless people who had been arrested for being outdoors after curfew. They immediately alerted him and the media.
One man was walking back from Tha Pae Gate to find a place to sleep when he was arrested and the other had finished doing odd jobs at the market and was heading to the river to use the toilet and find somewhere to sleep when he was arrested.
Both were immediately taken into custody.
There have been reports of other cases of the homeless being arrested during this time for breaking curfew, said the human rights lawyer to CityNews. But he said that he had yet to find them or details about their cases. He urges authorities to use common sense.
On the same day a team of officials went out to inspect areas where the homeless can sometimes be found and found a man who claimed to have not heard about the current coronavirus situation nor of the curfew. Authorities informed him of the current world situation and he said that he would stay in place at night.
According to officials this afternoon, the two arrested men will soon be released and will not be charged, following outrage from many sectors.
There are around 120 homeless people living in Chiang Mai city, according to officials.
Read about Chiang Mai’s homeless people here: https://www.chiangmaicitylife.com/citylife-articles/one-sleep-closer-to-home-housing-for-chiang-mais-homeless/