Pak
Mool dam activists battle police
The
Nation, July 17, 2000
MORE
than 10 people were injured when police fired tear gas and wielded batons
to stop Pak Mool dam protesters from invading Government House yesterday
evening, police and hospital officials said.
Protest
leaders put the number of injured people at between 40-50. But the Vachira
Hospital, where most of the injured had been sent, reported that no more
than 10 people were treated for slight wounds and the effects of tear gas.
It
was the second time the Pak Mool villagers had broken into the Government
House compound using ladders to scale the fence. Police were unable to
stop the first invasion a few weeks ago but the tension was defused after
top administration officials led by Interior Minister Banyat Bantadtan met
protest leaders.
Yesterday,
police were better prepared. More than 300 officers guarded the compound
and they reacted quickly when the invasion began at 8pm.
Colonel
Chatri Wuthipakdi, chief of the Dusit district police, said: "The
villagers' unusual movements alerted us early in the evening so we were
prepared. When they started climbing the ladders, we did just what was
necessary to block them. There was pushing and shoving but no serious
injuries."
Protesters
claimed that the police had resorted to unnecessary violence.
"They
fired tear gas at us and many of us were beaten with batons," a
protest leader Prachan Chinwithi, said at the site after the situation had
calmed down. "One policeman knocked me unconscious," he said.
He
said he believed that up to 50 villagers had been injured.
Late
last night police still had tight control of the area, separating some 200
protesters inside the compound from 500 outside. Prachan said those inside
would stage a peaceful sit-in until the government met their demands.The
villagers travelled to Bangkok again last week and renewed their protest
outside Government House. They accused the government of being slow on
implementing a decision by a committee set up to solve the Pak Mool
conflict.
The
panel had recommended that the Electricity Generating Authority of
Thailand open the dam's eight water gates to allow fish to swim upstream
to replenish depleted stocks.
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Protesting
villagers caught going over the wall again |
Bangkok Post, July 17, 2000
About 190 Pak Moon villagers were caught breaking
into the Government House compound last night, but police were undecided
whether to charge them.
The protesters used wooden ladders to scale the compound wall at
about 8.30pm. Security police were caught off guard by the sudden
intrusion.
It was the second time they had tried the tactic. The first time
was successful.
The villagers travelled by train from Ubon Ratchathani province
last week to demand that the government open all the sluice gates of Pak
Moon dam to allow fish to swim upstream to spawn.
About 500 villagers had rallied opposite Government House over the
past few days, before moving to Wat Benjamabopit for a religious ceremony
for the Buddhist Retreat.
The villagers claimed they were injured by over-zealous policemen
inside the compound.
Senior city police officers met last night to consider whether the
protesters should be charged with trespassing.
Police warned they would not tolerate this kind of action after the
protesters staged a similar intrusion last month.
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