MAE HONG SON — The leader of the red shirts in Chiang Mai says the soldiers who tore down his stall selling bottles of strawberry wine using a caricature of fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra had done so because of a “misunderstanding” and had apologised to him.
Pichit Tamoon, leader of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship in the northern province, on Monday threatened to lodge a police complaint after five soldiers from an unknown unit moved a red tent at his stall on the Mae Malai-Pai road in Pai district. They also seized eight bottles of the homemade wine along with bottled orange juice and strawberry jam, an act he regarded as theft.
He said the seized goods were taxed and had stamp duty paid. He also sold the products on land leased to business owners to sell souvenirs for tourists, not on the roadside or at a public venue.
But on Wednesday Mr Pichit made a u-turn and let the "squareface wine" row end happily. Matichon Online reported he would not take legal action against the soldiers after he had met with Capt Soonthorn Fongmala, head of Infantry Battalion 5’s civil affairs unit at Sophon Bandit Camp in Pai. He said the officer told him the soldiers had demolished his shop because they misunderstood that he was selling red T-shirts bearing images of Thaksin as stated by some websites.
“Since the soldiers have apologised because of a misconception and getting false information, I’ll let it go. I understand the situation well. And they have returned the red tent and all the goods to me,” Mr Pichit said.
The red shirt leader said he and the soldiers had registered the incident with a Pai police investigator as evidence so he would cancel his plan to file a theft charge against them.