Life imitated art on the November 19 when five students from Khon Kaen University in Thailand were taken into custody and sent to a military camp after they flashed the three-finger salute from The Hunger Games films during General Prayuth Chan-ocha's speech on campus.
The gesture of resistance to authoritarian government, which in the movies is a daring act of silent rebellion, began to appear in Thailand in the weeks after the May 22 coup. The act of raising it in public has been deemed illegal by the authorities, and any offender could be subject to arrest.
One of Thailand’s main movie theater chains Apex Cinemas pulled the latest installment of the hit franchise soon after the incident.
A spokesman for the company told the Bangkok Post on Wednesday that the cinema chain had dropped the sequel, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1, because “we feel our theaters are being used for political movements.”
The move came just days after the movie’s scheduled November 21 China release date was quietly canceled in fear that movie-goers might draw parallels to Taiwan's Sunflower Student Movement and the pro-democracy Occupy protests in Hong Kong.
The students were removed from the site by police and questioned before being sent to Si Phatcharin Military Camp in Khon Kaen to have their “attitudes adjusted.”
No indications have been given as to when the students will be released.
Somewhere (most likely in a screening room of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television), the Chinese censors must be giving each other a pat on the back for their incredible foresight.
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Thai protesters are seen using the “Hunger Games” three finger salute to show their silent opposition to the military coup.
Main character Katniss and her partner Peeta show the three finger salute as they are chosen to represent their district in the Hunger Games.
And this is every dictator’s worst nightmare.
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