PREAH VIHEAR TEMPLE
Blood pours from the head of a village leader who was injured in a clash with members of the PAD, who tried to go to the Preah Vihear temple ruins yesterday. |
Members of the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) yesterday clashed with a group of local people in Si Sa Ket who set up tents to block them from heading to the Preah Vihear temple.
The PAD protesters, whose procession with over a hundred carloads was about two kilometres long, confronted a group of some 200 locals who blocked a road in tambon Saothongchai of Kantharalak district, about 8 km away from the temple ruins, with tents at around 7 pm.
Police barriers were also set up in the area with about 200 police officers standing guard. The PAD wanted to march to the temple ruins to protest against Cambodia's listing of the temple as a World Heritage site.
Leading PAD figures ordered their security guards to break through the police barriers. This prompted angry local residents to throw wooden objects at the PAD protesters, who used flag poles to hit back. Police rushed to intervene. The clash left several PAD demonstrators and local residents injured.
After the clash, the PAD protesters marched toward Preah Vihear national park, the entrance to the temple, in Kantharalak district. Officials had to barricade it with barbed wire and wooden barriers to keep them out.
Suranaree Task Force commander Maj-Gen Kanok Nettarakawaysana said he has been in the border area for three days awaiting negotiations with Cambodian authorities about the overlapping zone between the two countries.
Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej lashed out at three Thai protesters who crossed the border into the overlapping zone on Monday and were detained, saying the three wanted Cambodian soldiers to arrest them in a bid to ignite violence.
The crossing of the three Thais - two Buddhist lay people, one a man, another a woman, together with a Buddhist monk - resulted in both countries reinforcing troop levels in the border area, he said. The three Thais were detained and later released on Tuesday.
A source said the three yesterday returned safely to the Thai side of the border after meditating in the disputed area near the temple ruins for a while after being released.
Mr Samak also accused the PAD of trying to instigate another coup.
Air force chief ACM Chalit Phukpasuk said Royal Thai Air Force aircraft are on standby, prepared to evacuate Thais living in Cambodia if tensions flare over the disputed Thai-Cambodian border and Preah Vihear temple.
So far, the prime minister, who also serves as defence minister, has not yet issued any orders to the air force, he added.
"If the situation worsens, the air force can assist around the clock and airlift out Thai people to repatriate them within one hour," the air force chief said.
He said Thai security officials - including Mr Samak, military commanders, the supreme commander and the permanent secretary for defence - are conducting ongoing discussions on ways to defuse the tensions.
In response to the PAD move, ACM Chalit said that people have the right to express their opinions but they must be based on the truth and that protesters must strictly follow orders issued by the Suranaree Task Force.
He also said that PAD members and supporters should refrain from intruding into the disputed area because it is dangerous.
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