Activist's car set on fire again

Activist Ekachai Hongkangwan's fire-gutted car, destroyed by arsonists outside his home early on Monday morning. (Photo from Ekachai Hongkangwan Facebook account)
Activist Ekachai Hongkangwan's fire-gutted car, destroyed by arsonists outside his home early on Monday morning. (Photo from Ekachai Hongkangwan Facebook account)

A motorcyclist set on fire a car owned by an activist campaigning for the Election Commission's impeachment in the early hours of Monday.

Ekachai Hongkangwan told Lat Phrao police on Monday his car was gutted by the blaze

He had returned home after attending a rally against the poll agency on Sunday and parked his car outside his house in Bang Kapi district.

He said security camera footage showed two motorcycles entering the soi about 1am on Monday. One of the riders, still wearing a helmet went up to his car, poured a liquid over it and then set it alight. The two motorcyclists then left the soi, he said. 

Mr Ekachai said he had left the petition document used to collect signatures inside the car. It was partly burned.

Mr Ekachai was with a group that set up a desk outside a McDonald's outlet near Ratchaprasong intersection on Sunday to gather signatures supporting the impeachment of the election commissioners for alleged mismanagement of the polls on March 24.

He posted photos of the burned-out car and damaged petition paper on his Facebook account. The car was towed to the police station, where investigators would examine it for evidence.

Police said investigators would examine  recordings from other security cameras in the area, track the escape route of the arsonists and try to locate them. The case would be handled without prejudice, they added. 

It was the second attack on Mr Ekachai's car. The same car was set on fire and the left side slightly damaged about 3am on Tuesday last week. He registered a complaint about that attack at the same police station. 

Mr Ekachai was convinced the two incidents were political.

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Vocabulary

  • arsonist: a person who commits the crime of deliberately and illegally setting something on fire - ผู้ที่ลอบวางเพลิง
  • blaze: a fire - เพลิง
  • convinced: certain; sure - แน่ใจ, มั่นใจ
  • footage: film of a particular subject or event - ฟิลม์หรือคลิปภาพยนตร์
  • gutted : burned completely from the inside out - ถูกไฟไหม้
  • impeachment: the process of formally accusing a public official of a serious crime relating to their job - การกล่าวโทษเจ้าหน้าที่รัฐว่าทำผิดศีลธรรมหรือจรรยาบรรณ
  • liquid: a substance that flows freely and is not a solid or a gas, for example water or oil - ของเหลว
  • mismanagement: organising or controlling something badly - การจัดการผิด
  • petition: a document signed by a large number of people demanding or requesting some action from the government or another authority - การถวายฎีกา,การร้องเรียน
  • prejudice: an unreasonable opinion or feeling - ความมีอคติ, ความลำเอียง
  • rally: a large public gathering of people to support someone or to protest against something - การชุมนุม
  • signature (noun): a person's name written in a special way by the person - ลายมือชื่อ
  • slightly: small in size or amount - เล็กน้อย
  • tow: to pull a vehicle or boat by fixing it to the back of a another vehicle or boat - ลากจูง

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