BANGKOK, Sept 19 – Eight protesters in the rubber demonstrations in Thailand’s South turned themselves in to the authorities to contest charges of gathering illegally and creating disturbances for the public, police said.
Seven suspects surrendered at Bang Sapan police station in Prachuap Khiri Khan and the eight appeared at Tha Sala police station in Nakhon Si Thammarat yesterday.
National police spokesman Piya Uthayo said the seven protesters in Prachuap Khiri Khan allegedly joined the September 3-5 rubber protests when they set fire to a pile of rubber tyres and bamboo used in construction to block the highway.
They reportedly resisted arrest and fought back when police prevented them from acting with violence, injuring police officers and damaging property, said Pol Maj Gen Piya.
The seven suspects were identified as Pattana Sonthi, Kwanchai Noorung, Somkuan Damkling, Chaiyan Timtae, Manas Yodying, Vimol Suksurat and Suvapan Poomnuan.
At Tha Sala police station, Nakhon Si Thammarat, a protester identified as Amnuay Yuthitham surrended to police on a charge of closing Highway No 401 in Tha Sala district from 4pm to 10pm on September 3.
The National Police Bureau, meanwhile, called on those who claimed they were injured in police shooting to file their complaints with the authorities so that legal action would be taken against wrongdoers.
In Nakhon Si Thammarat, a major rubber planting province in Thailand’s South, provincial agricultural official Somnuek Hemmanee said 51,250 rubber farmers submitted applications for government financial assistance.
More than 70,000 farmers must officially register for the scheme, he said, adding that registration was almost complete in some districts.
The Cabinet approved financial aid at Bt2,520 per rai for each rubber farmer with a maximum 25 rai (10 acres) per household. The Budget Bureau transferred Bt5.040 billion to the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives to pay entitled rubber farmers nationwide.
The rubber farmers’ earlier demand for the government to guarantee the rubber price at Bt95/kg was rejected and the Bt2,520/rai financial assistance measure was granted instead.
There are more than 13,000 rubber farmers in Cha-uat and Chulabhorn districts and 6,100 have applied for financial assistance. Officials said the registration should finish within a week.
