Thai medical council sides with cop after police brutality condemned

The National Medical Council sided with the authorities today in denying that a man beaten in the street by police was actually a medic amid swelling anger over police brutality.

Following an escalation of police brutality over the weekend, the council put out a statement today that it did not certify medical volunteers such as the unidentified man seen stomped in the street by a large scrum of officers Saturday near the City Pillar Shrine in the capital’s old quarter. It also both-sided the incident by condemning illegal activities as well as use of excessive force and urged all parties to respect medical neutrality.

The council’s statement came after the group fielding volunteer medics, the Doctor and Nurse Association, said this morning that the victim was one of its members. The group said he was a volunteer and not a certified emergency responder.

The…