PHUKET: A contingent of 170 police from Phuket left today as rubber planters blocked a train line and threatened to halt traffic on Thailand's highways in a protest about prices.
The Phuket police were on their way to Nakhon Si Thammarat, where as many as 15,000 planters, workers and their families were reported to have surrounded the train from Bangkok.
National action is being threatened in a bid to force the government to restart a stockpiling scheme to buy rubber at above-market prices.
Following a disastrous attempt to hoard and control the price of rice, the government is having none of it.
Deputy Prime Minister Pracha Promnok - fresh from a weekend visit to Phuket to deal with security and safety of tourists - told the rubber platers today: ''You're on your own. We won't interfere in the rubber market.''
The government says it will not resume the intervention program, which purchased the rubber sheet at 120 baht per kilo, compared with the present market price of about 72 baht.
Thousands of farmers blocked traffic in the Chauat district in Nakhon Si Thammarat, about 800km south of Bangkok.
Other police were being drafted from around Thailand to prevent disorder and to keep the nation's highways open. The Phuket contingent is expected to return or to be replaced by others within three days.
The Phuket police were on their way to Nakhon Si Thammarat, where as many as 15,000 planters, workers and their families were reported to have surrounded the train from Bangkok.
National action is being threatened in a bid to force the government to restart a stockpiling scheme to buy rubber at above-market prices.
Following a disastrous attempt to hoard and control the price of rice, the government is having none of it.
Deputy Prime Minister Pracha Promnok - fresh from a weekend visit to Phuket to deal with security and safety of tourists - told the rubber platers today: ''You're on your own. We won't interfere in the rubber market.''
The government says it will not resume the intervention program, which purchased the rubber sheet at 120 baht per kilo, compared with the present market price of about 72 baht.
Thousands of farmers blocked traffic in the Chauat district in Nakhon Si Thammarat, about 800km south of Bangkok.
Other police were being drafted from around Thailand to prevent disorder and to keep the nation's highways open. The Phuket contingent is expected to return or to be replaced by others within three days.
Maybe someone should actually explain how the "free market" works and why prices fluctuate.
I am sure if they had more education they can then see how unfair the market works, and that every one of us is powerless to control the price of things.
Posted by Tbs on August 27, 2013 11:38