Stealth
raid gets desired results
Banyat
promises to listen to grievances
Pradit
Ruangdit, Wassayos Ngarmkham and Anchalee Kongrut Bangkok Post May 29th, 2000
A surprise, early-morning raid on Government House by about 200 Pak Moon dam
protesters ended peacefully yesterday afternoon, after the interior minister
promised the government would pay serious attention to their grievances.
Police
guards watched helplessly as the raiders began scaling the walls surrounding
Government House about 3am using bamboo ladders, while 100 others waited on the
outside.
About
20 raiders managed to get as far as the Thai Ku Fah building, which houses the
Prime Minister's Office.
The
raid came as tension at the dam site in Ubon Ratchathani heightened after the
protesters occupying the parking lot next to the dam's turbine plant learned
that about 100 border patrol policemen had been deployed to the area.
Pol
Lt-Gen Thawatchai Phailee, assistant police chief, reminded the raiders their
action was unlawful and damaging to the nation's image.
They
refused his request that they leave Government House, instead demanding that
Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai meet them personally and that the government
promise not to use force to break up the protest at the dam site.
Interior
Minister Banyat Bantadtan later arrived to tell the raiders he had full
authority to represent the premier, who was in Laos.
He
assured the protesters the government had no intention of using force to deal
with the protest. The deployment of additional police, he said, was to prevent
violent confrontation between protesters and angry residents, as well as to
protect the dam from damage.
"I
have told the provincial governor and the police chief to ensure there is peace
and not to use force," Mr Banyat said.
He
would also advise the prime minister to appoint a national committee to respond
to the protesters' grievances. He believed it would be done within the week as
Mr Chuan had agreed with the idea.
However,
the government would consider the merits of each grievance before agreeing to
solve it and would not be pressured into doing so by any protest.
Addressing
the protesters, he said: "I wish that you would talk those at the dam site
into allowing officials to enter the plant to maintain the machines. It would
help improve the situation."
Phra
Phichet Phetnamrod from Wat Hua Haew in Khong Chiam district, a former adviser
of the Assembly of the Poor and a protest leader, was satisfied with the
promises.
But
he said the protesters would stay in Bangkok until Mr Banyat's promises were
implemented by local officials in Ubon Ratchathani.
The
dramatic raid came only one day after a meeting in Khong Chiam district between
protest leaders and provincial and electricity officials appeared to have
reached an initial understanding and reduced tension.
But
pressure increased yesterday following the news of the raid and police
deployment.
Protest
leader Wanida Tantiwitayapitak of the Assembly of the Poor said at the Mae Moon
Man Yuen makeshift village that the raid was designed to pressure the government
into promptly responding to the villagers' demands.
"We
knew the Chuan government would drag its feet, and we don't want to pressure the
electricity generating authority and the provincial governor any more. So we
have applied pressure on the government right at its seat. In a way this will
lessen tension between our group and the provincial authorities," Ms Wanida
said.
The
protest at the dam would remain peaceful and there would be no excuse for the
authorities to use force, she said.
But
the province's senator-elect Nirand Pitakwatchara was not pleased with the
daring action, even though he was sympathetic to the villagers' cause, saying it
could lead to renewed hostility at the protest site.
Mr
Nirand's fear materialised in the person of Pratchaya Sritanyarat, a 45-year-old
resident, who led about 100 people to condemn the raid and the protest.
Mr
Pratchaya, whose nickname Taengmo (water melon) is tattooed on his right
shoulder, told the press he would launch a campaign to drive out the Assembly of
the Poor.
He
said he was motivated to take this action by the raid on Government House.
A
local tourism operator, Mr Pratchaya said the assembly-led protest had disgraced
the province and damaged the economy and the tourism industry.
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