State Railway of Thailand (SRT) staff were blocked from registering vendors for a temporary market in Bang Sue yesterday by a group of black-clad men who made threats against their safety.
Hundreds of vendors return to Talat Nat Rot Fai in Bang Sue district yesterday to be told mysterious menwere blocking them from entering a newsite set aside for them by the State Railway of Thailand. SURAPOLPROMSAKANA SAKOLNAKORN
The SRT earlier invited the vendors to show up for registration at a warehouse formerly used to store returned parcels.
The vendors were all former occupants of Warehouse No.3 at the nearby Talat Nat Rot Fai.
The SRT evicted Talat Nat Rot Fai vendors last week to make way for the construction of the Red Line electric railway, but offered them a place in the parcel-storage warehouse for the next five months.
SRT staff originally planned to register vendors at the new market site at 10am yesterday, but were nowhere to be found when about 500 vendors arrived.
However, the SRT staff later told the vendors to move to Warehouse No. 3 for the registration. The staff explained that about 10 men clad in black had blocked them from entering the parcel-storage warehouse.
The men warned the staff the vendors should leave for their own safety.
SRT governor Prapat Chongsanguan said he called railway police about 1.30pm and asked them to restore order at the parcel-storage warehouse.
He said the black-clad men were encroachers and the SRT had not authorised any private party to use the space.
"We promised to let vendors from Talat Nat Rot Fai use the area, so we still insist that they can use it. I will not let anyone or any influential group encroach on it," Mr Prapat said. "I will not tolerate any encroachment on the SRT's land."
The SRT governor said after an inspection of the site that the black-clad men were sub-lessees who had contracts with an old tenant of the SRT at the parcel warehouse.
They were unaware that the lease contract had expired long ago, he said. The men eventually agreed to leave and let vendors from the market build stalls in the warehouse.
Mr Prapat said fences will be erected at all SRT train stations and along railway tracks to prevent encroachment.