About 10 people including the commander of Prachuap Khiri Khan police were injured yesterday evening when a scuffle broke out between riot police and rubber farmers in the province's Bang Saphan district.
The chaos erupted about 6pm when the protesters tried to block Phetkasem Road near Ban Thammarat. Police moved in to force them off the road.
During the chaos, police reportedly fired tear gas, injuring some of the protesters. Prachuap Khiri Khan police chief Thanet Sunthornsuk was reportedly hit with a bag of acid.
About 11 protesters were rounded up after the commotion ended.
Police managed to clear the protesters from the road after a 40-minute tussle.
However, the situation was tense as night fell as the number of protesters grew to about 3,000. Bricks and other objects were being hurled from the protest site.
About 9pm, protesters encircled senior local officials, police, and reporters and demanded the government send representatives to negotiate with them. At press time, the protesters still had the group surrounded.
Early in the day the protesters staged a road blockade "rehearsal" on Phetkasem Road. They slowly crossed the road, briefly disrupting traffic.
The protesters yesterday brought in more rubber tyres and barrels of latex to the rally site in an apparent bid to intensify their demonstration.
The violence came only hours after rubber farmers in at least two southern province announced they would call off their protest for a week to give the government time to work on measures to alleviate planters' grievances.
The seven-day break was announced in Phatthalung and Nakhon Si Thammarat even though the national committee on rubber decided against the farmers' price guarantee proposal.
Meanwhile, the government yesterday set up another committee to try to solve the rubber price standoff.
Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong said Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra had assigned her deputy, Pracha Promnok, to head the committee.
The panel will today head to Nakhon Si Thammarat to hold talks with the protest leaders.
Mr Kittiratt said the national rubber committee turned down the rubber farmers' proposal for a guaranteed price of 100 baht/kg for rubber sheet and stood firm on the proposed subsidy of 1,260 baht per rai of plantation land.
However, Mr Kittiratt said the cabinet would also be asked to raise the subsidy cap from a maximum of 10 rai to 25 rai per farmer.
The proposal, which would require a budget of 10 billion baht, was likely to be submitted for cabinet approval in two weeks, he said.
He said the decision was to avoid lowering rubber prices in the market as some groups were likely to exploit the price difference. "The price guarantee measure will weaken the market price," Mr Kittiratt said.
Protesting rubber farmers refused to accept the government's subsidy proposals because they said the subsidy would go into the hands of rubber plantation owners, not rubber tappers.
"I never said the subsidy is for fertiliser," Mr Kittiratt said. "It will be paid in cash. I want the farmers to understand the government."
He said that all rubber growers were eligible to receive the cash subsidy except those who encroached on forest reserves.
In Nakhon Si Thammarat, protest leaders yesterday called off the demonstrations at Ban Khuan Ngern and Ban Toon railway crossing.
Iad Seng-iad, a protest leader, said the farmers would end the blockade for a week to give the government time to solve the problem.
Phatthalung protesters also gave the government seven days to come up with a solution and dispersed from the site.
However, authorities in other southern provinces were bracing themselves for fresh protests. Security was being stepped up at provincial airports to prevent possible blockades.
Sukhon Sawatpirom, a protest coordinator in Krabi, said blockading an airport or government establishments were possible options.
He said the cash subsidy programme was a bad decision.
In Surat Thani, protesters yesterday lifted their blockade at the junction of Highways No.41 and No.417 and returned to Surat Thani Cooperatives.