With the ongoing turmoil in Thailand, I’d consider them lucky to have had any violent revolts or riots.

Despite the frequency of Thailand’s political turmoil and citizen dissent, its government has experienced few violent incidents or riots as of late.

But the government does not acknowledge the fortunate situation in which they’ve been placed, because in November, police arrested eight students for the seemingly innocent act of flashing the three-fingered salute often seen in the “Hunger Games” trilogy.

On May 22, martial law was put into effect in Thailand. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha claimed the law was required to stop “conflict and social disparity,” according to BBC News.

The martial law gives the military control over the government and bans all political gatherings of five or more people.

The exact “conflict and social disparity” in which Chan-Ocha feels the country is in remains unclear.

Three students were arrested and sent to an army camp after buying 100 tickets to the premiere of the third installment of the “Hunger Games” franchise, “Mockingjay Pt. 1.”

They planned to give them away in order to make allies against the army. In addition, five college students were arrested for flashing the salute in protest during a speech made by Chan-Ocha in Bangkok.

Due to its use by protesters against the recently enforced martial law, the gesture has been banned in Thailand.

There have been other relatively peaceful riots in Thailand relating to the martial law, so it’s strange that the problem the Thai army chooses to target concerns college students and a silly salute from a movie.

Protesters’ acts seem to be peaceful, which is a better alternative to the violence and anarchy that could ensue in response to the martial law.

Banning “Mockingjay Pt. 1” or the three-fingered symbol seems to be petty and counterintuitive.

If the “Hunger Games” trilogy had really inspired the citizens to protest, I would’ve guessed protests would have consisted of more anarchy and violence, as seen in the movies.The Thai army should have expected protests after putting the martial law into effect.

It’s one thing for a country to take away the citizens’ rights. It’s a whole other thing when they expect citizens to stay obedient to the fascist rules put into place, particularly in the absence of any actual constitution or laws.

Protests are going to happen, but the army is dealing with them the wrong way.

It is countering peaceful protests with harsh punishments that don’t seem to fit the supposed wrongdoing.

The Thai army seems to be targeting an inoffensive movie, “Mockingjay Pt. 1,” rather than the actual problems of the nation, such as the corrupt government.

If the simple banning of a movie could solve all problems of disobedience and dissolve all riots, then of course, Thailand would be making a great decision.

But the reality is, banning “Mockingjay Pt. 1” resolves nothing, and instead creates even more problems.

Thailand needs to spend a little less effort dealing with petty issues and use a bit of that energy to come up with actual solutions to deal with the problems caused by the government.