Video footage released by a rights group showing a Thai soldier destroying a bamboo footbridge used by refugees from Myanmar to cross into Thailand has raised concerns over rights violations.
In a segment of a 16-minute video posted online after being filmed from the Myanmar side of the Wa Le River, which separates the two nations, a soldier is seen hacking away at lengths of bamboo laid across the waterway.
One of two Thai soldiers standing on the opposite bank shouts out to the person filming the incident. “What are you filming, [expletive]? Do you want to die” the soldier is heard yelling.
By dismantling the bridge, the group says Thailand’s military has closed off an escape route for desperate refugees.