PHUKET: About 500 people gathered on Thursday in front of the fence to a private property on a local road leading to Laem Nga Beach, demanding the property developer open access to the beach as the path has been blocked for over a decade.
The attempt to regain access to the public land was sparked after a Swiss man allegedly kicked a female doctor in the back while she and a friend sat on beachside steps leading to a villa the man and his Thai wife rent, which caused a public uproar.
The man said he believed they were Chinese trespassers.
The steps, a wooden walkway and a stone dyke next to the villa were later found to have encroached on the public beach and were ordered to be demolished.
It prompted the Facebook page Laem Nga Phuket to call on locals to reclaim access to Laem Nga Beach, which has been blocked by Laem Nga Development, a private contractor, since 2011.
On Thursday, about 500 people showed up in the area.
Many held hand-written placards with various messages like "We want our beach back" and "Road No 4097 does not belong to a private company. We all have the right to use the road."
Tambon Ratsada mayor, Nakarin Yosaengrat, said on Thursday the 1,290-metre rural road was built by the now-defunct Accelerated Rural Development Department -- a predecessor of the Rural Roads Department -- in 1994.
The road was transferred to Tambon Ratsada Municipality in 1997.
Only the first 800-metre stretch of the road is currently open to the public after the property developer erected fences covering a 64-rai plot of land.
The title deeds were issued in 1982, Mr Nakarin said, adding he also wondered why the road had been built inside the private property.
The municipality does not have the authority to demolish the fence because that part of the road is included in the private company's title deeds, he said.
Chanchai Tanthavachiraphan, the village headman of tambon Ratsada, said the land document needs to be verified. "We want to know the truth," he said.
Deputy Phuket governor Sattha Thongkham also visited the site to listen to the people's complaints.