ID :
305350
Sat, 11/02/2013 - 12:15
Auther :

Protesting farmers end blockade, road remains closed

PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN, THAILAND, November 2 (TNA) - Rubber and oil palm growers from 16 southern Thai provinces cleared a main highway linking Bangkok with the southern region on Saturday morning, but the road remains partly closed for public safety. Even though the protesting farmers have ended their eight-day blockade of the Petchkasem Highway, Police Major General Thanet Suntornsuk, Provincial Police Chief of Prachuap Khiri Khan Province in the Upper Thai South, told reporters on Saturday afternoon that the highway has not yet been fully re-opened for normal traffic to prevent any untoward incident against the public, as the protesters have continued rallying at Baan Sri Nakhon in Bang Saphan Noi District and have been guarded by a group of covered-face men. Besides, the provincial police chief said, houses of four core leaders of the protesting southern farmers were attacked by gunmen, initially believed to be those from an ill-intentioned third party to stir unrest. The protesting farmers had earlier blocked the Petchkasem Highway in Prachuap Khiri Khan's Bang Saphan Noi District by using an 18-wheeled truck and fallen big trees, forcing motorists travelling to Bangkok or heading for the South to, instead, use an alternative farther route along a local beach. The protesting rubber and oil palm growers' demands include a government guarantee for rubber and oil palm prices at 100 baht per kilogramme and six baht per kilogramme respectively, and a solution to the problem of their land ownership documents. In another development, police security around the private residence of Thai Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on the outskirts of Bangkok has been tightened, after there were reports that activists of the Thai Patriots Network, led by Chaiwat Sinsuwong, planned to assemble there on November 3 to pressure for the Thai government's rejection of a forthcoming ruling by The Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) on November 11, 2013 regarding a disputed territorial case related to the Preah Vihear Temple along the Thai-Cambodian border if the World Court's verdict favoured the Cambodian side. Suporn Attawong, a deputy secretary-general to the Thai prime minister, cautioned that the planned rally in front the prime minister’s residence is unlawful because it violates other people’s rights and police will have to take legal action against the demonstrators. (TNA)

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