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DAM-L LS: Pak Mun Protesters attacked, village destroyed (fwd)
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Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 13:07:21 -0800 (PST)
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subject: LS: Pak Mun Protesters attacked, village destroyed
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Urgent Urgent Urgent !!!
Pak Mun Dam protesters attacked. Please see the news coverage by The Nation
and Bangkok Post today.
The latest situation is more than 30 villagers were injured and 3 of them
are serious. About 200 villagers affected by Pak Mun dam still occupy the
dam crest at Mae Mun Man Yuen 1. The violent will not end soon because the
group hired by EGAT (about 200 people) still waiting at the EGAT office for
attack the protester.
More info and chronology will send you soon.
Chainarong Sretthachau
SEARIN-Thailand
Note: Please forward this message to your network.
The Nation, November 20, 2000
ABOUT 30 villagers were injured, at least two of them seriously, when
scores of baton-wielding men forcibly evicted Pak Mool Dam opponents from
the dam site in Ubon Ratchathani yesterday morning and set fire to their
makeshift wooden shelters, witnesses said.
The attackers, who were alleged to have been paid by the Electricity
Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) to neutralise the protest site,
stormed the Mae Mool Man Yuen 7 and Mae Mool Man Yuen 1 camps at around 5
am and 11 am respectively. After forcing the villagers out, they started
dismantling the shelters or setting them ablaze. A makeshift school was
also destroyed.
Hundred of families had occupied the area to show their opposition to the
controversial dam project. Egat has said their presence created security
concerns.
The raids yesterday took place when only women and elderly villagers were
in the camps. Most of the male villagers had left the area for harvesting
work.
The villagers regrouped before noon not far from their seized camps.
Tensions ran high as the two groups hurled stones and fired slingshots at
each other.
The police later deployed security forces in the area and brought the
situation under control.
Villagers said those who resisted the eviction were assaulted, and up to 30
people were injured. Some protesters told Ubon Ratchathani Senator Niran
Pitakwatchara that the attackers used guns and knives. "I saw a 70-year-old
man run away with his belongings. When I tried to help, several men armed
with knives and batons attacked me," said Dusadee Chanthong, a wounded
villager. "I also heard that a villager was stabbed and seriously hurt."
Another villager, Boonpeng (surname unknown), was reported to be seriously
wounded when he was hit in the head. "Those who tried to resist were
beaten. They burned everything in sight. Even a school was not spared,"
said Somparn Khuendee, an activist of the Assembly of the Poor, which
spearheads the anti-dam protest.
Jarin Watwarin, another Assembly of the Poor activist, insisted that Egat,
which has tried repeatedly to get the villagers off the dam site, was
behind the raid.
"Obviously they were hired by Egat. This is not the first time they have
tried to force the villagers out," he said.
In July, the protesters also accused Egat of masterminding a failed attempt
to dislodge them from their camps.
Because of security concerns, Egat reportedly hired young men to help guard
the dam site in addition to police. The agency had declared the protest
area off-limits but failed to drive the protesters away.
Ubon Ratchathani police chief Pol Maj Gen Bamrung Sukpanit said he had
ordered an investigation into the incident.
The Assembly of the Poor will organise a media tour of the area today.
The Campaign for Popular Democracy issued a statement condemning the raid.
It said the Chuan government should take responsibility for the "barbarian"
act against peaceful villagers.
There was no official response from Egat yesterday. The agency's officials
based at the dam, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the protest site
had been declared off-limits and the villagers were repeatedly told to move
out.
BY THANIN KITNANTHAKHUN and
PENNAPA HONGTHONG
Bangkok Post November 20, 2000
Gangsters beat up protest villagers
About 200 men yesterday staged a violent raid on a village founded by
anti-dam protesters on the crest of the Pak Moon dam in Ubon Ratchathani's
Khong Chiam district.
The unidentified assailants left 30 villagers injured, two of them seriously.
Some villagers blamed the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand.
The Campaign for Popular Democracy said the raid took place about 3pm on
the Mae Moon Mun Yuen 1 village, set up two years ago as part of a marathon
protest against Egat.
The CPD issued a statement denouncing the action, which it attributed to
those holding state power.
It accused the caretaker government of having colluded with the raiders.
The CPD called on Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and Interior Minister Banyat
Bantadtan to justify the use of violence against innocent villagers.
The government should refrain from taking any action over problems
involving the Pak Moon dam and leave them for the next government to solve,
it said.
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