DPA
Bangkok - Several hundred Thai protestors gathered at Government House and the Defence Ministry in Bangkok Friday to demand a tougher stand against Cambodia for its arrest of seven Thais along the two countries' border.
The demonstrators called for the resignation of Thai Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan for allegedly failing to respond adequately to the arrest of the seven Thais by Cambodian authorities on charges of trespassing on Cambodian territory on December 29.
The protestors identified themselves as members of the Thai Patriots Network, which had earlier planned to march along the border near the Thai town of Aranyaprathet to voice their outrage at the Cambodian government.
'For the time being we won't go to Aranyaprathet,' said Thai Patriots Network leader Chaiwat Sinsuwong. 'But our duty still remains.'
Chaiwat insisted the seven arrested Thais, including member of parliament from the ruling Democrat Party Panich Vikitsreth and Veera Somkwamkid, an activist in the nationalist movement known as the yellow shirts, had been on Thai territory when they were detained by Cambodian troops.
During an earlier court hearing in Cambodia, Panich's lawyer said he had been visiting a border village 'to address the complaints of [Thai] villagers,' adding that the villagers had alleged that a border marker had been moved by Cambodians to encroach on Thai territory.
The protestors' proposed protest march along the border has been strongly opposed by the Thai government and by residents of the area who depend on cross-border trade for their livelihoods.
Earlier Friday, representatives of the New Politics Party, an offshoot of the yellow-shirted People's Alliance for Democracy, submitted a letter to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva demanding that he revoke a border agreement signed in 2000 due to alleged violations of Thai sovereignty by Cambodian forces.
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban on Friday criticized the Thai Patriots Network and its allies for playing politics with the already volatile Thai-Cambodia border situation.
'Although the patriots have the constitutional right to peaceful assembly, they are obligated not to cause any disruptions to the people,' Suthep said.
4 comments:
There are close to 70 million of people in Thailand. It would be stupid if the Thai government listens to those few hundred, paid to protest and confused people. But you never know, some of them Thai worked in government, their head also filled up with mislead information.
keep Veera Somkwamkid in jail. He is a trouble maker and parasite of Thai society. He is for rich and class.
stupid siem pad thugs seemed to only focus their energy on the 7 illegal siems. they think cambodia is all about them or something! how ignorant can they get, really! it's like they encourage their people to act like criminals and then get away with it for free or something! shame on them! fortunate cambodia have our own law, our own thinking, our own way, etc, etc... of course, cambodia is not about thailand and its siem pad thugs group, you know! they can cry until their eyeballs popped out, cambodia don't really care because our law is law; we don't play favoritism with siem criminals, really! must do hard labor in prey sar hilton, no exception! siem pad thugs are not special to cambodia, you know!
yes, must keep the pad thugs trouble makers in prey sar hilton the longest. we, cambodians don't like the pad thus trouble-makers at all, you know! maybe they should joint the sam rainsy party in cambodia as they are same trouble-making type of people, really! they are of course get paid to make trouble like sam rainsy by his foreign supporters. hey, khmer people already knew and aware of that, we're not stupid like the stupid KR and stupid pad thugs and stupid sam rainsy, ok! we know what is good for cambodia and for us, we are better educated than in the past, thanks to changes, our country is better off in many ways e.g. better leaders, better people, better economy, better living standard, better infrastructure, better educated and educatiion, better foreign policy, better friendship, etc, etc, ok! wake up, people, don't be so stupid and behind time, ok!
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