Violent
clashes spark rallying cry
 |
Police
clash with Pak Moon dam protesters outside Prime Minister Chuan
Leekpais offices yesterday while, in the background, a woman
manages to slip through the mayhem to scramble over the compound
fence. Police arrested more than 200 protesters who managed to force
their way into the compound and were being held in custody pending
investigations. |
The Nation, July 18, 2000
LEADING
scholars and social critics yesterday urged Bangkok residents to support
villagers protesting against the Pak Mool dam as violent clashes again
took place outside Government House.
About
200 villagers who breached the Government House wall and entered the
compound on Sunday night were arrested yesterday. Another 40 were injured
during clashes with police while trying to deliver food to those inside
the compound. Police used batons and tear gas on the crowd.
About
2,000 officers from different forces were on the scene.
Professor
Nidhi Eoseewong, a scholar from Chiang Mai University, compared the
situation to the May 1992 uprising during which the military shot and
killed dozens of unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators.
"It
is the same sort of dictatorship mentality, whether it's from the military
or what is supposed to be a democratically elected government," Nidhi
said.
"And
Bangkok's middle class are not treated any better if they are not chairmen
of a chamber of commerce or a banking association. Bangkokians should come
to Government House in support of Pak Mool villagers," he said.
Using
ladders to scale the fence, about 200 of the 800 or so villagers outside
Government House managed to enter the compound on Sunday night as 300
police officers tried to control the situation with tear gas and batons.
Villagers say 40 to 50 people were injured on Sunday night, while police
and hospital officials estimated the injured at 10.
Those
who made it inside the compound on Sunday were determined to remain until
the government addressed their demands.
Villagers
claim the construction of the Pak Mool dam, which was completed in 1994,
has disrupted their livelihood - fishing - by preventing the migration of
fish upstream to spawn.
At
least some of those arrested were not allowed to consult with lawyers.
Yaowalak Anuphan, representative of the Law Society of Thailand, said she
was told by Lt General Banleng Chiewit at the Border Patrol Police Bureau
that she could not meet the defendants for security reasons.
Prime
Minister Chuan Leekpai defended the police action, saying yesterday that
the protesters had no right to breach the compound walls.
"I
sympathise with the police. They [the villagers] have the right to
demonstrate outside, but they should not enter Government House," he
said. "The intrusion into the compound is illegal."
Protesters
yesterday defended their actions, saying they were necessary because the
government has ignored their plight.
Others
also defended their actions. Somsri Hanananthasuk, from the Union for
Civil Liberty, argued that the villagers were not terrorists and did not
enter Government House to assassinate the prime minister.
"Don't
forget these villagers do not have any means to negotiate. They just need
public attention because the government has been ignoring their problem
for a long time," Somsri said.
Somsri
said any democratic country would look down on the Thai government for
being unable to peacefully settle the problems of its people. Its use of
force against a grassroots movement will win praise from no one, she said.
Meanwhile,
some 500 fellow villagers from Pak Mool reportedly boarded a train to
Bangkok last night to join their neighbours.
Prasittiporn
Karn-onsri, an adviser to the Assembly of the Poor (AOP), a group leading
the protest movement, said about 50 AOP community leaders were also on
their way to the capital after an urgent meeting yesterday.
Last
month, Deputy Prime Minister Banyad Banthadthan appointed a committee of
academics, biologists and engineers to investigate the possibility of
opening the dam's flood gates to allow fish to swim upriver.
The
committee recommended two weeks ago that the Electricity Generating
Authority of Thailand (Egat) should open the flood gates for four months
during the rainy season to allow fish from the Mekong River to feed and
spawn in the Mool.
However,
Egat and the government have not responded to the committee's
recommendation.
Committee
chairman Banthorn On-dam said the government's silence on the
recommendation has saddened him, and he urged the government to announce
its final decision.
"The
Pak Mool Dam problem is a social problem that isn't so difficult to deal
with. The government just needs to have sincerity and a political will to
solve the problem. But the government so far has been buying time,
refusing to solve the problem," he said.
BY
NANTIYA TANGWISUTIJIT ,
SUBHATRA
BHUMIPRAPHAS and
PENNAPA
HONGTHONG
The Nation
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