Activists hold umbrellas in front of the Chinese embassy Wednesday in Bangkok to protest the deportation of Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong, reportedly at the request of mainland China.
BANGKOK — Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong may have been barred from speaking at Chulalongkorn University tonight, but the movement he helped start two years ago loomed large in his absence.
Out of apparent fear the event would turn into a symbolic protest of Wong’s deportation on arrival Wednesday, police banned umbrellas, the symbol of his 2014 pro-democracy movement, from an auditorium at the university where he had been slated to speak, an event organizer said.
“Police instructed us to ban them,” said the activist called Maew, who asked not to be identified by full name for fear of repercussion. “They said it’s a measure to prevent incidents as much as possible … yes, to prevent any symbolic protest.”
Maew said they also demanded no anti-Chinese rhetoric.
The event was to mark the 40th anniversary of the October 6 Massacre, a crackdown on a left-wing student movement that killed dozens at the height of the Cold War in 1976.
Wong, the 19-year-old famed for leading the so-called Umbrella Movement two years ago, was slated to speak on the theme of youth and civil rights, but Thai immigration police turned him away Thursday, citing a request from the Chinese government.
Apart from the ban on umbrellas, police also told the organizers of “October 6: Chula Students Look into the Future” not to use Wong’s deportation as a basis to defame Sino-Thai relations, according to the same activist.
“They were rather specific. They didn’t allow us to talk about Thai and China relations,” said the activist, who studies political science at Chulalongkorn. “They said: Don’t make it an issue.”
Wong was to deliver his keynote speech via Skype later Thursday night.
Deputy national police chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul told reporters Thursday morning that Wong is free to Skype in, and the students can organize the massacre’s commemoration as long as they did not “incite conflict or unrest.”
Officers from a local police station were also dispatched to monitor the event, Srivara said.
The sidewalks along upper Silom Road were free of street stalls Wednesday night.
BANGKOK —Instead of staying home like most of her friends, Pornthipa Boonmart on Wednesday went to her spot on Soi Sukhumvit 5 where she has sold goods to passers-by for over 30 years.
Under the watchful eyes of officers there to end the practice, the 49-year-old hung shoes from the railing of a Thanachart Bank branch. The officers seemed okay with that, so long as she didn’t take space with a table.
“I have a lot of Arab customers here. They buy a dozen pairs of shoes at once while Thais usually only buy one at a time,” she said.
But otherwise the scene there looked very different than before.
Instead of the usual stalls selling counterfeit brand name clothes, pirated DVDs and other cheap goods, the sidewalks of three landmark areas – Siam, Silom and Nana – Wednesday night were packed with municipal security officers.
Months of flaccid efforts to end the sidewalk commerce routinely associated with those areas, action was finally taken this week and for now success seems to belong to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.
Since the latest in a series of its ultimatums for vendors to clear out came Monday, no stalls have been able to open as dozens of officers and officials have been dispatched to prevent it.
The result? Footpaths that appear wider than ever, with enough space for two pedestrians to walk side-by-side.
Municipal ‘tessakit’ officers watch over sidewalks Wednesday night in the Nana area of Sukhumvit Road.
“The problem should have ended long ago,” said Penpit Supawaropas, who has walked along that stretch of Rama I Road nearly every evening since high school. “This way we won’t have trouble if any emergency happens.”
While stalls and markets elsewhere have had their defenders, those who all but block traffic flow in front of Siam Square are widely reviled. The 26-year-old said the goods sold there really were “not as cheap as we thought,” and believes the vendors exploit others who pay high rent to secure their business at one of Bangkok’s most expensive areas.
Poverty was brought up by vendors as to why they cannot afford to rent a proper storefront. Some complained that an alternate site offered by the city for them to move, which is under a tollway on Rama VI Road, is far from ideal.
“It is not an area where commuters usually pass by,” said Suchada Rangabpai, a 38-year-old shoe seller said Wednesday at Siam Square. “We can clearly tell we won’t be able to sell there.”
A sign seeking the attention of a specific city official is temporarily set up Wednesday where vendors usually sell goods in front of Siam Square in Bangkok.
Shady Sales
The effort to clear the sidewalks of Siam goes back to before the coup, when the city began its cleanliness and order campaign that has seen the end of many other famous street markets.
Unlike other locations, Siam has been in conflict since 2010 when landowner Chulalongkorn University first tried and failed to clear sweep the vendors out.
People often attribute that to organized criminal elements believed behind the ad hoc market. It’s an open secret that there are people the vendors pay for “permission” to set up there.
Previous attempts to evict the sellers were met with acts of vandalism taken as a threat of menace to the university.
On Wednesday night, a group of men demanded that a reporter covering a protest by vendors there identify herself and explain what the angle of her story would be.
In the end, the protest at Siam ended Wednesday night with 10 representatives selected to take a single demand to City Hall: They must be able to continue selling.
Thursday morning the city rejected that demand.
Sandals were hung on the railing of a bank branch on Sukhumvit Road on Wednesday night by Pornthipa Boonmart, 49.
Some vendors have said they have paid bribed to city officers called tessakit to use the space. A pad Thai vendor in Soi Sukhumvit 19 recently said she pays 3,000 baht each month.
Vendors however said they want to petition for the same right to continue selling.
“Reorganization means to regulate us – not clear us out,” said Yindee Metmerurat, a 54-year-old Nana knick-knack vendor. She filed a complaint addressed to junta chief Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha last week.
Open sidewalks Wednesday night on upper Silom Road below BTS Sala Daeng.Walkways were clear on Soi Sukhumvit 5 and other odd-numbered sois along the Nana stretch of Sukhumvit Road on Wednesday.Some vendors hung goods from railings instead of placing tables on the pavement Wednesday along Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok.
Rescue workers load a body found in a Phra Khanong shophouse on Sept. 23 in Bangkok. Police now believe the body was that of an American man named Charles Edward Ditlefsen.
BANGKOK — Police on Thursday were waiting for American officials to formally confirm the identity of a body found in the freezer of a passport forgery den they believe to be that of U.S. national Charles Edward Ditlefsen, a police source said.
Two of three American suspects are currently held in a Bangkok prison in connection with the dismembered body. The man they believe responsible for murdering Ditlefsen, who was on the run from the FBI nearly four decades, remains hospitalized for injuries sustained during his capture after he shot a police officer.
A source in the police force, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was told not to speak to reporters, said Thursday the cut-up body belonged to Ditlefsen. His frozen remains were discovered during a Sept. 23 police raid on a building in the Phra Khanong district.
Media reports from over decade ago identified Ditlefsen as a California railfan who established himself as a publisher of calendars featuring old trains.
Reached for comment Thursday, Bangkok police chief Sanit Mahatavorn said police were still waiting on formal verification from the U.S. Embassy.
“It’s possible, but we don’t have any official confirmation yet. We have to wait on the country of his nationality,” Lt. Gen. Sanit said. “To confirm it, we need a letter of confirmation from the American embassy. If we say [he was American], it’s like we didn’t check things first.”
Sanit said police believe it’s a case of homicide but would not confirm reports the body had been frozen for eight years.
“We have made that our hypothesis,” he said.
Three men were arrested in connection with the alleged killing, including Herbert La Fon, who in 1979 became a fugitive from justice after being accused of fraud. La Fon shot a tourist police officer during the raid. He was arrested along with James Eger, an alternative energy consultant and Aaron Gabel, who was settled with a family in Thailand.
Eger and Gabel are being held at Bangkok Remand Prison, while La Fon remains at Police Hospital for injuries he reportedly sustained in the raid, including what were described as self-inflicted wounds to his wrists.
Update: This event has been canceled in light of the death of His Late Majesty King Bhumibol
BANGKOK — A man’s death underscored the long suffering of a rural community west of Bangkok poisoned by lead contamination in the 2013 documentary “By the River.”
Now another stricken Klity community member featured in the film is too ill too work, so the film’s director has organized a charity screening of the film to help with his medical bills.
Organ appeared in “By the River” as a strong man living with his blind mother in the Lower Klity village in Kanchanaburi province, where a factory polluted their water supply for more than 15 years.
The sole source for the community’s survival is the creek, and its pollution killed or crippled many living there. Organ is now sick and unable to earn a living, help his mother or even travel to the city hospital for treatment.
As a result, director Nontawat Numbenchapol and the Documentary Club are inviting people to a free screening of the film where they can also make a donation to help the ailing man.
The film premiered at the 2013 Locarno International Film Festival where it grasped a Special Mention Award.
After the screening, there will be a discussion in Thai on the rehabilitation of the Klity community, led by Nontawat and experts from a Karen aid organization and Klity representatives.
Collected donations will go directly to paying for Organ’s expenses, including medical bills and getting to the hospital.
The film screening starts at 4pm on Oct. 15 in the auditorium on the fifth floor of the Bangkok Art and Cultural Centre. Free tickets will be available starting at 2pm. The venue can be reached by skywalk from BTS National Stadium.
Organ, the man on the left, with his blind mother from the documentary “By the River”. Photo: Nontawat Numbenchapol / Courtesy.Photo: Withit Chanthamarit / Courtesy.
Taxi ranks at Suvarnabhumi Airport in a 2009 file photo. Photo: Matichon
BANGKOK — Police arrested two unlicensed taxi touts at Suvarnabhumi Airport on Wednesday, one of whom they said had been convicted of the same crime two years ago.
Intadech Sukarom, 29, was arrested at about 11pm in spite of an active court order barring him from entering the airport, said Lt. Col. Suebsak Pinsaeng, deputy chief of airport police.
“The court order was lighter than the usual punishment,” Suebsak said by telephone Thursday. “But if the court tells you not to enter some place, you have to obey.”
Intadech was previously convicted in 2014 of driving a taxi without a license and sentenced to two months in prison, but the sentence was commuted and he was instead slapped with a restraining order effective for five years, Suebsak said.
Apart from operating a taxi without permit, Intadech was charged with contempt of court for the second offense, Suebsak said.
He said it was the first offense for the the other suspect arrested last night, 36-year-old Sophon Ruengjit.
Taxi rip-offs and unlicensed drivers are recurring complaints that often make headlines, and Suvarnabhumi was plagued by organized criminal elements after it opened in 2006.
Suebsak said Intadech wasn’t the first taxi to return to the airport despite being convicted and blacklisted.
“It happens all the time. They say they have to make a living,” the officer said.
A screenshot from the trailer for ‘Operation Mekong’ shows soldiers in front of Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters in Bangkok.
BANGKOK — No domestic distributor has been found for a film inspired by the murder of 13 Chinese nationals on Mekong River after Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha warned recently it could be banned.
“Operation Mekong,” seems unlikely to show in Thailand after Prayuth warned three days before its Sept. 30 opening in Hong Kong that the film would be banned by the Culture Ministry if it was found to defame Thailand.
The action film is based on the so-called Mekong River massacre of 2011, in which 13 Chinese crewmen were killed and nine Thai soldiers were implicated but not prosecuted. It is showing in Hong Kong, China and some theaters in the United States.
“I’ll tell the Ministry of Culture to check whether the content is distorted or not,” Prayuth told reporters on Sept. 27. “If it’s distorted, it might not be allowed to screen because it’ll defame our country. And don’t forget that the Golden Triangle belongs to three countries. If we protest or proceed with any operation, will other countries join us?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM0d3S-JOG4
The 23rd film by prolific action filmmaker Dante Lam is based on what happened Oct. 5, 2011 in a notorious corner of the Golden Triangle. Eight attackers including a Myanmar drug lord along with Thai and Laotian nationals ambushed two Chinese commercial vessels loaded with almost a million methamphetamine pills between Chiang Rai province and Myanmar.
It led the governments of Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and China to join forces and hunt down notorious Myanmar drug cartel leader Sai Naw Kham.
Soon after the incident, nine Thai soldiers from an elite anti-narcotics task force were investigated for their involvement, as they were the first to step onto the vessels to confiscate the drugs. No case ever moved forward.
“Operation Mekong” was shot in Bangkok and Samut Songkhram provinces in 2015 with permission from the national film office.
“In the documents submitted, the crew stated that [Operation Mekong] doesn’t specify that the story takes place in Thailand. The committee warned them to be careful not to include imagery or other indications that would convince the audience that this is Thailand,” someone working in the national film office said, who only spoke on condition of anonymity.
A security camera image shows three men suspected of robbing a car parked last month at Siam Paragon in Bangkok.
BANGKOK — Police are seeking a ring of foreign thieves suspected of stalking people as they withdraw cash from shopping mall banks and then burglarizing their vehicles.
Pathumwan police showed Wednesday what they said were three foreign suspects identified in security footage after Asira Wongkulnapalit, 66, filed a complaint alleging his car had been burglarized last month at the Siam Paragon shopping mall.
Asira told police he and his wife had been shopping at the mall when he went off on his own to change 100,000 baht in bank notes at a Kasikornbank branch. As he was going up an escalator, he said a foreign man in a cap trailed behind, but he assumed the man was a tourist.
He placed the money into a shopping bag his wife wanted him to store in the car while she continued shopping. After returning to his wife, they were shocked to find a hole cut into their vehicle’s rear passenger window. The money was gone.
Police suspect a gang of three men they described as Middle Eastern-looking have been hunting the mall for potential victims on financial errands. They say evidence shows them leaving the mall later in a rented Toyota Yaris with Chonburi plates. They said the car was rented using fake passports and has also gone missing.
Pol. Lt. Col. Thanawut Prasertnoo of Pathumwan police station said this particular gang is suspected of repeatedly burglarizing cars in the same fashion at various locations.
If caught, Thanawut said that the men could be charged with theft, property destruction and international criminal activity.
Chonratsamee Ngathaweesuk hosts a live broadcast Friday of Channel 5 news show ‘Thailand This Morning.’ Image: Thailand This Morning / YouTube
BANGKOK — A female TV reporter linked to junta deputy chairman Prawit Wongsuwan didn’t accompany him on a now-controversial trip to Hawaii, according to information obtained by Khaosod English.
Entry records from the Immigration Bureau show that Chonratsamee Ngathaweesuk did not leave the country between Sept. 29 and Saturday, when the trip occurred. Also footage of live broadcasts she hosted as a news anchor indicates she remained in Thailand.
“She can’t magically duplicate herself,” Col. Thanathip Sawangsang, a producer for army-owned Channel 5 told reporters Wednesday.
In recent days, allegations Chonratsamee accompanied Prawit to a meeting with American military officials became a subplot in a greater controversy over the cost of ferrying the entourage there and back.
The single round-trip flight cost taxpayers 20.9 million baht, providing more fodder to junta critics who say it does not practice what it preaches when it comes to corruption.
Chonratsamee is said to be romantically involved with Prawit, and the possibility the deputy junta leader brought a girlfriend along for the trip particularly incensed critics.
An anti-junta Facebook page published what it said was a passenger list for the Honolulu-bound flight, which included Chonratsamee’s name. Photos circulated online also alleged to show the reporter with Prawit in Honolulu.
Chonratsamee, who at 34 holds a rank of army major, may file libel charges against the Facebook pages and websites that spread the reports, according to Col. Thanathip, the producer.
In response to criticism of the expense, government officials have maintained the fare was a standard rate.
SV Estelle, another ship to have sailed to Gaza in a campaign to break the naval blockade is seen moored prior to its departure in 2012 in Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Hakan Akcura / Flickr
JERUSALEM — The Israeli navy on Wednesday intercepted a boat carrying pro-Palestinian female activists trying to break Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip and said it was escorting the vessel ashore.
The Israeli military said the takeover was brief and there were no injuries – avoiding a repeat of violence seen during a 2010 takeover of an international flotilla in which 10 Turks were killed in clashes with Israeli troops.
The incident occurred on a day of renewed fighting in Gaza, where the Israeli air force struck a series of targets in response to a Palestinian rocket strike earlier in the day. There were no reports of injuries on either side.
The boat was sponsored by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, a group of pro-Palestinian groups based mostly in Europe. The Dutch-flagged boat was carrying 13 female activists from different countries headed by Mairead Maguire, an Irish Nobel Peace Prize laureate. A retired U.S. colonel and former South African Olympic athlete were also on board, along with women from the United Kingdom, Sweden, Russia and Malaysia.
Zaher Darwish, one of the coordinators of the flotilla, said the boat was intercepted about 40 miles (60 kilometers) from Gaza and was not carrying any aid. He said the goal was “symbolic” – to call attention to the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza, which he called illegal.
“People have the right to move. We have the right to move,” Darwish said. “We are aiming to the conscience of the people. And the conscience of governments. They have to act and express their non-acceptance of this situation.”
Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza after the Hamas militant group seized power in 2007. The blockade has stifled Gaza’s already weak economy, where unemployment is over 40 percent, and prevented tens of thousands of people from traveling abroad for jobs, studies and other visits overseas.
Israel says the restrictions are needed to prevent Hamas from importing weapons, and says it has eased the blockade to allow more goods into the territory. It considers Hamas, an armed group sworn to Israel’s destruction, a terrorist group, and the sides have fought three wars since the Hamas takeover.
In a statement Wednesday, the Israeli military said the navy carried out the raid “after exhausting all diplomatic channels.” It said forces ordered the boat to change course, and when it refused, they boarded and searched it. The military said male and female soldiers participated in the raid, and that the search was “uneventful.”
The boat was being escorted to the Israeli port of Ashdod, the military said, a process that was expected to take several hours. There was no word on what would happen to the people on board. In the past, activists have been arrested and quickly deported.
The raid sharply contrasted with the 2010 takeover, in which Israeli naval forces were confronted by crowds of activists armed with pipes and knives as they boarded a Turkish ship. Ten Turkish activists, one of them a dual American citizen, were killed during violent clashes.
The incident contributed to six years of diplomatic tensions with Turkey that were resolved only this year in a deal that included an Israeli apology and reparations, Turkish pledges to limit Hamas activity on its territory and a restoration of full diplomatic relations.
Wednesday’s rocket strike landed in Sderot, a southern Israeli town on the Gaza border. Although no one was wounded, such incidents have been rare since a 50-day war between Israel and Hamas in the summer of 2014.
Israel struck a series of Hamas posts throughout Gaza in response, sending tall plumes of smoke into the air. An obscure group that said it draws inspiration from the Islamic State group claimed responsibility. Israel, however, holds Hamas responsible for all attacks emanating from the territory.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum urged international activists to continue sending flotillas to Gaza.
“This is an Israeli piracy and organized state terrorism reflecting how deep the Israeli entity has gone in its aggression, crimes and violations against our people and those who show solidarity with it,” he said.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures with a fist bump during his visit to the Philippine Army's Camp Mateo Capinpin at Tanay township in August in Manila, Philippines. Photo: Bullit Marquez / Associated Press
MANILA — An independent poll released Thursday showed that more than three-quarters of Filipinos are satisfied with President Rodrigo Duterte, even though he is under fire internationally for his deadly crackdown on suspected drug dealers and users.
The survey, conducted by Social Weather Stations from Sept. 24 to Sept. 27 and published Thursday, shows 76 percent of 1,200 adults polled nationwide were satisfied with Duterte’s performance, 11 percent were dissatisfied, and 13 percent were undecided. There was a national sampling error margin of plus or minus 3 percent.
The poll comes nearly three months after Duterte took office and with his anti-drug crackdown, which has left more than 3,600 suspected drug dealers and pushers dead, raising alarms at the United Nations, the EU, the U.S. and human rights watchdogs.
The brash-speaking leader has been hypersensitive to such criticism, and the latest survey was carried out just before he raised the rhetoric on Sept. 30, comparing his anti-drug campaign to Hitler and the Holocaust and saying he would be “happy to slaughter” an estimated 3 million Filipino addicts – a remark he has since apologized for.
He has unleashed a number of expletive-laced tirades against his critics, telling President Barack Obama “you can go to hell,” and saying he may eventually decide to “break up with America.” He has also lashed out at the European Union and the U.N.
The survey showed respondents in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao, where Duterte is from, gave him the highest rating, with 88 percent satisfied, and just 4 percent not satisfied.
