Profit or peril? Debate over industrial estate heats up | Bangkok Post: news

A restaurant in Prachin Buri's Muang district was the site late last month of a stand-off between locals on both sides of a debate over the 5,000 rai Metro Industrial Park proposed for the area. About 200 locals had registered or received an invitation to attend a second public hearing on the project held at the restaurant. Most of them had already made their way into the 500 square metre open-air restaurant when a group of about 300 locals dressed in black and carrying funeral wreaths and banners declaring their opposition to the project approached the venue. They had just completed a march throughout town to spread their message.

WE DON’T WANT IT: Opponents of a proposed industrial estate in Prachin Buri carry a banner listing the reasons for their disapproval and to the left protesters carry a map that shows the area falls under a proposed agricultural and rural conservation zone.

Ampai Trisuwan, an adviser to the Prachin Buri Chamber of Commerce, stood in front of the restaurant and denounced the protester's methods over a microphone. "This is not the polite way of Prachin Buri people, carrying wreaths and banners," she said, raising her hand in the air, her diamond rings and gold bracelet glittering in the morning sun.