VIDEO The Battle for Phuket's Thalang Police Station
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1&v=P6ZURGrYyqY
PHUKET: The Permanent Secretary of the Interior Ministry today ordered the Governor of Phuket to investigate the weekend's riot and to arrest and charge people found to have committed crimes.
There is no justification for the destruction of Phuket's Thalang Police Station, the wounds inflicted on 14 officers, and the fatal turning back of an ambulance carrying an injured man to hospital.
The fact that the man in the ambulance died is a shocking outcome of the actions of a raging mob.
Volunteers were clearing up at the police station today but it will take more than sweeping away broken glass and burned metal to recondition Phuket's severely damaged reputation.
Drunks, hotheads and anarchists were at the weekend allowed to take control of a protest that should have been peaceful and measured, no matter how deep the grief felt by the two families after the tragic fatal motorcycle crash on Saturday.
Why didn't the authorities intervene as peacemakers as soon as possible and attempt to calm this difficult and obviously dangerous situation before it escalated out of control?
It's plain that no group of people has the right to halt traffic on a public road or to launch an attack on the local police station.
Even if grievances run deep, there are many legitimate courses of action that can be pursued.
The weekend protest brought shame on Phuket, and reflected poorly on Thailand's premier holiday island.
The safety of visitors and residents has to be a first priority. All roads must stay open to traffic, at all times.
Even on Sunday, some of the people of Baan Don, gathered more peacefully to listen to police, the army and the governor, seemed to not understand the difference between right and wrong.
The governor was asked to guarantee that there would be no recriminations because of the riot at Thalang Police Station. He said that was not possible. And he was quite right to say that.
Now he has been ordered to pursue the wrongdoers who inflicted the damage. We see nothing unreasonable in that request.
The arrests should be made as soon as sufficient evidence has been gathered.
Phuketwan urges the villagers of Baan Don, many of whom seem to be respectable and reasonable people, to accept the need for the arrests of suspects to be made immediately.
We also urge Baan Don to accept the ruling of the independent panel that has 30 days to investigate the deaths of the two young men and recommend action. Even if that panel's ruling does not reflect the views of the local people, it must be accepted.
The law-abiding citizens of Baan Don have the same need as everybody else to obey the rules, and to understand why rules need to be obeyed. Violence is, quite simply, not acceptable, and not negotiable.
I am in full support of the interior minister ordering the arrest of wrongdoers. IT is only the arrest that will deter people doing this in the future.
Posted by Ciaran on October 12, 2015 10:45
Editor Comment:
It's the permanent secretary, not the minister.