A sea gypsy community in tambon Rawai of Phuket's Muang district on Wednesday demanded the government fast-track multiple legal disputes over land plots between them and the private sector after their access to the sea was blocked.
The move came after more than 100 men blocked a public walkway at Rawai beach with a truck load of boulders and a backhoe and destroyed the fishing gear of local fishmermen, according to a statement released by the Ethnic Fishermen Network.
Men, women and children staged a protest by sitting on the road in a bid to disrupt the blockade, but the truck continued to unload the boulders and injured some of the protesters. The villagers also claimd they were assaulted.
The conflict over ownership of the controversial area began on Tuesday when a private firm, Baron World Trade Co, attempted to block the area with the help of 40 police, military and administrative officers, Rawai mayor Arron Solos was quoted as saying by Phuket Gazette Online.
About 200 adults and children from the Rawai sea gypsy village rallied at the provincial Damrongtham centre where they submitted a complaint and demands to Deputy Prime Minister Narong Pipatanasai through Phuket governor Chamroen Tipayapongtada. Adm Narong was having a meeting with governors and officials of Andaman coastal provinces at Phuket provincial hall at the time.
They were accompanied by members of a network for rights and development of Phuket's underprivileged people, and the People's Movement for a Just Society (P-Move).
Nirandorn Yungparn, the community's representative, said the villagers had been bullied by the private investors who claimed they possessed proper land ownership documents that had been obtained legally over the community’s public land. The situation affected more than 2,000 residents.
“If the deputy prime minister does not help us, the fishermen in Phuket will no longer have land to stand on,” Mr Nirandorn said.
The Rawai fishing community is made up of indigenous people from the Moken, Moglen and Urak Lawoi tribes. They said their predecessors had settled in the area more than a century ago.
In their petition, they wanted the government to expedite the process of revoking land documents proved to have been illegally obtained by the private sector. Authorites must protect the villagers’ area used to perform rituals and access to the beach until the legal conflicts with the investors were settled.
P-Move coordinator Sinchai Phrojeen said a committee set up to tackle issues related to habitat and job stability and cultural space of the southern sea gypsies was trying to resolve the problems for the Rawai fishing community.
But the conflict flared up again after the entrepreneurs who claimed they legally owned the land around the community had intensified their pressure by blocking the villagers’ walkways to the sea and areas used for rituals which had been used for more than 100 years.