Senator Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan said on Monday she sympathised with the Thai chef who chased her from his restaurant in Iceland, and was not taking legal action against him.

The senator said the incident, widely reported on social and mainstream media,  occurred when she and her friends went to a Japanese restaurant in Iceland last week.

As they were about to order the Thai chef ran angrily up to them, holding a mobile phone in a way that suggested he was livestreaming, she said.

"I have experienced so many such incidents, hatred through not knowing each other. I only sympathise with him," Khunying Porntip said.

She had not expected the incident to get publicity, but the man posted the video himself.

She said the man had chased her out as as if she were an animal. He shouted at her in both English and Thai, in front of other customers.

She decided to leave the place right away.

The video went viral on social media over the weekend. In it, chef Ari Alexander Guðjónsson could be seen telling Khunying Porntip to leave the premises immediately, in both Thai and English. 

The chef said he used to admire the senator but changed his mind after seeing "what she did to the country".

Khunying Porntip abstained in the first round of voting for prime minister, in which Move Forward Party (MFP) leader Pita Limjaroenrat failed failed to secure enough support because most senators abstained or voted against him.

She also condemned MFP supporters who harassed senators who did not share their view.