Phuketwan UPDATE
PROTESTERS slept at Provincial Hall in Phuket City overnight and on Tuesday men with a Phanason management representative who agreed to reopen the road to houses on the estate, and said there would be no flooding at homes. In return, the names of the people in the dwellings are to be supplied so settlement terms can be negotiated.
Original Report
HUGE PILES of earth have been pushed across roads, preventing residents from entering or leaving part of an estate in Phuket City where the developers are in dispute with residents.
A large group of residents were on their way this afternoon to Provincial Hall, where they planned to protest and seek the help of the Governor, Wichai Praisa-ngob.
The governor had visited the site as a result of a previous protest and the timetable for a mediation session had been set.
Today bulldozers pushed the earth into place at Ket Kaew Villas in Vichit on a site that was to be the subject of talks on November 30.
The developers, Phanason, said the earthen barriers had been shifted into place today because the land belongs to them.
Some residents claim to have ownership documents going back before Phanason bought the estate. Others admit they are illegal residents, but many have lived on the estate for years.
One woman said today she farewelled her daughter for university today, on a motorcycle, but she will not be able to return to their home this evening.
Yaowalat Promsiri, 50, said she, her husband and her daughter had been living on the estate for 17 years.
The earth had been pushed close to her home today and the road was no longer accessible, she said.
''We can move but we need time to find a new place to stay,'' she said today.
Khun Yaowalat said that court action was already in the system and a mediation session was scheduled for later this month.
One family had accepted 13,000 baht to move out, she said. But she added that she did not think that was enough. Of the five houses in the row, residents remained in four, she said.
Khun Yaowalat had parked her own motorcycle in front of the earth movers.
''I no longer feel safe here at home during the day.'' she said. ''They may come back and push the dirt even closer. And I do not know how my daughter will make her way home this evening.''
