PAK
MOON DAM
Villagers
charged with trespassing
Reinforcements
on the way from Isan
Wassayos Ngamkham, Ploenpote Atthakor and Anucha Charoenpo
Bangkok Post, July 18, 2000
 |
A policeman
grapples with a protester during a melee as authorities try to evict
Pak Moon dam demonstrators from the compound of Government House. _
APICHIT JINAKUL
|
Some 200 Pak Moon
villagers who broke into the Government House compound on Sunday night
were yesterday charged with trespassing.
Civic groups and NGOs accused police of using unnecessary violence and
demanded that the protesters be unconditionally released.
It was the second time the villagers had used the tactic in their
efforts to pressure the government to open the Pak Moon dam sluice gates.
Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai said the villagers' act was illegal and
that the police were right to arrest them. He blamed the siege on
"people instigating the protesters from behind the scenes".
Pol Gen Pornsak Durongkaviboon, the national police chief, said the
operation was necessary since the protesters refused a plea from Deputy
Prime Minister and Interior Minister Banyat Bantadtan to leave the area.
He said the compound had to be cleared to prepare for the visit there
tomorrow of Chinese Vice-President Hu Jintao.
Some 2,000 city, Special Branch and border police stormed the compound
at 2.30pm to arrest the protesters. Gen Pornsak said he had instructed
them to avoid violence.
A total of 224 villagers-139 men, 84 women and a child-were rounded up.
The women, the elderly and the child were taken to a city police training
school in Nakhon Pathom's Salaya district. The rest were detained at the
Region 1 Border Patrol Police headquarters in Klong Luang district, Pathum
Thani province. They were initially charged with trespassing on a
government installation during the night. Under articles 364 and 365 of
the Penal Code they are liable to up to five years in jail. The core
protesters would be additionally charged with inciting unrest.
More police had to deal with other villagers who tried to join their
colleagues. They were pushed back to the Rajamangala Institute of
Technology, Phra Nakhon campus.
Sanguan Phubkhunthod, 40, from Chaiyaphum, said a police officer hit
her on the head and left hand with a wooden baton as she was trying to
push the front gate of Government House.
"I felt pain and asked him not to use force with us and let us go
inside the compound to meet the prime minister," she said.
Prasert Phobkhunthod, 54, was punched in the face and did not
understand why police used force against unarmed protesters seeking help.
Phitsanulok road was temporarily closed to traffic and the entire
operation lasted about 15 minutes.
Pol Gen Pornsak said at least 45 policemen were slightly injured, one
suffered a broken finger. A number of villagers were also injured but
there were no figures available.
In a statement, the Assembly of the Poor said 21 villagers were injured
in the clash and were treated at Vajira Hospital. About 30 others were
slightly injured and did not require treatment.
Representatives of the Campaign for Popular Democracy, the Union for
Civil Liberty, the People of October Network, Friends of the People
Organisation, the NGO Co-ordinating Committee on Development and the
Student Federation of Thailand accused the government and the police of
using excessive force and called for an immediate investigation into the
operation.
Pibhop Dhongchai, secretary-general of the Campaign for Popular
Democracy, said the protesters had been driven to desperate measures by
government indifference.
He pointed to its failure to follow resolutions made by a neutral
committee, chaired by Banthorn On-dam, which called for the trial opening
of the dam gates to allow fish to migrate.
More than 1,000 villagers were expected to arrive from Ubon Ratchathani
and other Northeastern provinces early today to join their fellow
protesters.
Mr Chuan said he sympathised with the police who had to defend
themselves against the villagers. |
