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Campsite raided and vandalised
Men carried knives, inquiry
underway
Porpot Changyawa Wassayos Ngamkham
Bangkok Post, Dec 6, 2002
A group of unidentified men raided and vandalised the Assembly of the
Poor's campsite near Government House early yesterday but have failed to
discourage the protesters from giving up their campaign to get Pak Moon
dam's sluice gates opened permanently.
Chauy Leunrit, a 75-year old villager from Ubon Ratchathani's Ban Hin
Sung, said she was asleep when about 30 men marched into the camp area
adjacent to Government House at 3 am and began pulling down the tents.
The men were in street clothes and armed with knives. ``They kept saying:
`It's okay. It's okay. It's Father's day' while they were taking down our
tents,'' she said.
They were there only 10 minutes, she said, but managed to wreck 15 of the
60 tents sheltering more than 60 protesters. They also attempted to burn
down the campsite, said Thippa-art Vejchasuksa, a protester from Ubon
Ratchathani's Ban Kan Luem, who witnessed the incident.
Some tents were vacant since their owners had returned home to gather
their harvest.
Two tents and protesters' belongings were thrown into Klong Premprachakon,
a canal at the rear of the camp site. No-one was hurt.
The force also took down the assembly's ``Long Live the King'' signs as
well as banners protesting at the government's decision to open Pak Moon
dam sluice gates for four months a year. The group wants them opened
year-round.
Sunthon Kamyan, a 78-year-old protester from Ban Kaeng Charoen, whose tent
was torn down, said the protesters had not encountered any problems with
police before the raid.
``Even if they keep raiding us I'll continue to protest until the dam's
gates are open permanently.''
Pol Col Prutchai Jaichansukkij, of Dusit police station, where protesters
filed a complaint, said the station and a team of metropolitan police were
investigating.
He denied the vandals were police. ``There's no point in us raiding the
protesters."
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