PAK
MOON PROTEST
Villagers lay symbolic siege to dam
Occupying car
park next to power plant
Moving
under the cover of early morning darkness, more than 1,000 protesting villagers
yesterday occupied a parking lot next to the power generation plant at Pak Moon
dam in Khong Chiam district.
One group of 100 villagers staged a
symbolic siege of the dam on its crest. Another group took to the river below
the dam in 50 boats.
It was the culmination of a threat
to seize the dam and "let the Moon river run free" by the villagers
who have demanded that their traditional way of life be restored.
Authorities had anticipated the
siege but the protesting villagers took advantage of the darkness at 2am to move
into the parking lot.
Protest leaders and activists made
speeches aboard a truck equipped with a loudspeaker system and blasted the
authorities for neglecting the plight of the poor.
Hundreds of policemen and defence
volunteers were on hand to respond to any untoward incident but remained at a
distance to avoid any appearance of provocation.
Led by the Assembly of the Poor, the
villagers have occupied an empty lot on the river bank at the dam site and set
up a makeshift village called Mae Moon Man Yuen where they have stayed since
February last year.
The villagers claimed to be affected
by various state projects, including Pak Moon and Sirindhorn dams, and a
development project at Chong Mek pass on the Thai-Lao border.
Activists and villagers have
condemned the construction of Pak Moon dam, which began operating in 1994, for
decimating the fish population in the Moon river.
The World Commission on Dams
released a report in March this year showing the loss of up to 80% of fish in
the river. The WCD was created and funded by the World Bank, the main financier
of Pak Moon dam, to study the impact of dams.
The findings confirmed the
accusations of environmentalists and protesters that the "fish
ladder", which dam authorities built to allow fish to travel up the river,
was a total failure.
Yesterday's action was designed to
force the dam authorities to open all eight spillways to restore the river to
its original level and allow fish from the Mekong river to travel up and spawn
in the Moon river once again.
Protest leaders said the activity
was not meant as a demand for compensation as officials had alleged, but was a
genuine demand that the river's ecology be restored so that villagers could go
back to their original occupations of fishing and farming by the river.
The protesters stressed that their
intent was non-violent and they would not resort to destroying property,
blocking roads or taking any action which might be construed as causing
violence.
They alleged that the Electricity
Generating Authority of Thailand, the dam developer, would try to take advantage
of the situation to instigate violence in a bid to dislodge them from their
make-shift village.
Pol Lt-Gen Laemthong Yan-ubon,
regional police commander, said the villagers would be able to continue their
protest as long as they remained non-violent.
Senior provincial officials have
accused the protesters as being belligerent and insincere. Praphat Bunyindee,
the deputy governor, said provincial authorities had earlier requested the
protesters to send representatives to meet officials to discuss their demand,
but the protesters had spurned the request.
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