Police are checking the documentation of Filipino transvestites frequenting Soi Sukhumvit 11 in Bangkok after they brawled with Thai transvestites on Monday night.
Pol Maj Gen Withawat Chinkham, commander of the Metropolitan Police Division 5, said on Tuesday that many transvestites had arrived from the Philippines on 30-day tourist visas and had checked in at hotels on Soi Sukhumvit 11, in Wattana district.
Police were checking if their visas were still valid and whether they were working illegally, he said.
Thai and Filipino transvestites brawled in front of a hotel on Soi Sukhumvit 11 on Monday night. The police commander said it was the first time the two groups had openly fought.
According to Pol Maj Gen Withawat, the incident began with a dispute between three Filipinos and two Thais. After parting, the two groups confronted each other again outside a seafood restaurant at the mouth of Soi Sukhumvit 5. They quarrelled and left the scene.
The two sides then met again on Soi Sukhumvit 11. There were 15 Filipino transvestites and six Thais. They argued and fought each other. Thais had suffered injuries in the fight and filed a complaint at Lumpini police station.
Thai transvestites then gathered back at the hotel on soi 11, many summoned by social media messages, waiting for the Filipinos to return.
When Lumpini police arrived at the hotel to take two of the Filipinos to the police station. Another brawl broke out as police escorted them from the hotel, and another person was injured.
"They were unpleasant when they met, possibly because they are of different races and opinions," Pol Maj Gen Withawat said. The two sides had confronted each other and then separated.
"Messages were then posted on social media, people gathered and there was the incident as seen in video clips," Pol Maj Gen Withawat said.
Police had not so far pressed charges against anyone over the incident, he said. They were still gathering and reviewing the evidence, which would include footage from surveillance cameras and body cameras of police at the scene.
"Police will identify as many people involved in the incident as possible," he said.
Police would also check the several hotels in the area where Filipino transvestites stayed. Each of them had a room to themselves, he said.
At Lumpini police station, a Thai transvestite said some of the Filipinos had checked out of their hotels and left the country on Tuesday morning.
She said that Filipino transvestites had rented rooms in the area only recently, and frequently stood outside in front of the hotels in such a manner that "everyone understands what they are doing".
She said the Filipino transvestites often swore at Thai transvestites who walked past their hotels, and police could see that for themselves on surveillance camera recordings.
Thai transvestites talk to reporters at Lumpini police station on Tuesday. (Photo supplied)