On 25 October 2004, approximately 2,000 people gathered peacefully in front of the Tak Bai Police Station in Narathiwat Province, one of Thailand’s insurgency-ridden southern border provinces (SBPs), to demand the release of six Malay Muslim village defense volunteers held in detention.1 In response to the peaceful gathering, military and police officers attempted to disperse the crowd by firing tear gas, water cannons and live ammunition.2 Seven protesters were killed on the spot and many other people were injured. Following that crowd dispersal, the authorities arrested 1,370 protesters, tied their hands to their backs and forced them to lie on top of each other on the back of army trucks to transport them to a military camp for detention. Seventy-eight of them died as they were crushed or suffocated during the transportation.
