PHUKET: Peacemaking locals fear a flashpoint could come for more rioting on Phuket when the bodies of two young men are taken from a hospital to a temple for final rites this week.
The deaths of the young men in a motorcycle crash during a pursuit sparked a 15-hour protest that turned into a wild riot and left a police station wrecked, cars torched and at least 17 police wounded.
Once the holiday island's Vegetarian Festival ends on Wednesday, the bodies of Patomwat Panarak, 22, and Teerapong Srisamut, 17, will be taken from a hospital, where autopsies have been performed, to a Buddhist temple near their home village of Baan Don.
Baan Don is a tolerant place where Buddhists and Muslims live side by side but its hidden underbelly of drug-taking among the young boiled over on October 10 into open, ugly confrontation between drunken or drugged protesters and an undermanned force of officers trapped inside Phuket's Thalang Police Station with several VIPs.
Questions are still being asked about how the apparent settlement of the dispute in late afternoon by Phuket Governor Jamleran Tipayapongtada deteriorated soon after dark into the wildest outbreak of community violence Phuket has seen since an unwanted factory was razed to the ground by an angry mob in 1986.
The governor left to catch a flight to an important Bangkok meeting and it wasn't until 200 troops arrived many hours later at 3.30am that the mob abandoned its attack on the police station. By then, the holiday island's blocked main road looked like a battle scene and scores of tourists had missed their flights.
Baan Don village chief or poo yai baan Sitthichai Jantawat is puzzled how the families of the two young men could have been content one minute with the governor's proposal then overwhelmed like all the other reasonable people by the out-of-control Saturday night uprising of a local mob.
Khun Sitthichai says there's still uncertainty in the community as the release of the men's bodies from Thalang Hospital looms in the next few days.
''We urge the people to stay calm and not allow unruly elements to start trouble again,'' he told Phuketwan. More than 30 arrest warrants have been approved by the Phuket Provincial Court and police have begun to pursue the suspects.
The advent of rumors on social networks has triggered two placatory messages from Governor Jamleran in the past couple of days and the mood of the young locals is difficult to read.
Khun Sittichai believes there were three groups among the local residents who took control of what had been a peaceful protest and turned it into a riot.
''There are first, the group who really don't like the police, perhaps hate is not too strong a word.
''Second, there are kids who have been previously arrested and don't like the police, and third, there are the drug dealers and their customers.''
The aggression shown during the Saturday night-Sunday morning riot is what disturbs authorities. Governor Jamleran has said that a reaction to street violence will be much swifter if there is any repetition, and the assumption is being made that it will not be soft-talking.
Among those pinned by rioters in the police station were newly elevated vice governor Chokdee Amornwat, Thalang chief officer Veera Kerdsirimangkon, Phuket's Police Commander Major General Pachara Boonyasit, Thalang Superintendent Colonel Chanuchan Cholsuwat and five deputy superintendents, all colonels: Peerayut Karajedee, Pinit Sirichai, Sakchai Limcharoen, Weerawat Chanwichit and Saman Chainarong.
Reinforcements sent from other police stations and a small Navy detachment failed to quell the mob's angry mood.
''We are concerned still because we have not been told what's going on,'' village chief Khun Sittichai told Phuketwan. ''We hear of arrests but nobody is talking about what is going to happen when the bodies of the two men are removed from Thalang Hospital to the temple in Baan Don.''
He added that he was concerned about ''social media and groups who want to create problems.''
As a community leader, Khun Sittichai was called in by authorities on the Saturday night to try to talk the crowd into going home. As with all the others who tried, Khun Sittichai's words of wisdom were ignored.
''Most of the village is calm and nobody is talking about the case,'' he said. ''But we do not know how the disaffected young will react.''
The riot has certainly exposed the broad social problem of recreational drug-taking on Phuket.
However, the autopsies on the two young men have shown that they had no drugs in their bodies, Public Health officials told Phuketwan yesterday.
''The findings of the doctors indicate they had taken no drugs for at least three days,'' an official said.
''In both cases, the causes of death has been found to be high-impact head wounds. One young man suffered a 20-centimetre gash to the head, the other suffered a smaller wound.''
An independent investigation panel has been given 30 days to determine findings on the circumstances that led to the deaths of the two young men during a police pursuit. Both families have agreed that the findings of the panel should be accepted by everyone.
The difficulty is, though, that the tragedy has been hijacked by unruly elements who welcomed the opportunity to confront police and may still be harboring ideas of a second face-off.
Any appeal by Governor Jamleran for calm as the bodies are taken to the temple is expected to be acknowledged by all reasonable and respectable villagers. It's the disaffected young who may yet cause more trouble.
The deaths of the young men in a motorcycle crash during a pursuit sparked a 15-hour protest that turned into a wild riot and left a police station wrecked, cars torched and at least 17 police wounded.
Once the holiday island's Vegetarian Festival ends on Wednesday, the bodies of Patomwat Panarak, 22, and Teerapong Srisamut, 17, will be taken from a hospital, where autopsies have been performed, to a Buddhist temple near their home village of Baan Don.
Baan Don is a tolerant place where Buddhists and Muslims live side by side but its hidden underbelly of drug-taking among the young boiled over on October 10 into open, ugly confrontation between drunken or drugged protesters and an undermanned force of officers trapped inside Phuket's Thalang Police Station with several VIPs.
Questions are still being asked about how the apparent settlement of the dispute in late afternoon by Phuket Governor Jamleran Tipayapongtada deteriorated soon after dark into the wildest outbreak of community violence Phuket has seen since an unwanted factory was razed to the ground by an angry mob in 1986.
The governor left to catch a flight to an important Bangkok meeting and it wasn't until 200 troops arrived many hours later at 3.30am that the mob abandoned its attack on the police station. By then, the holiday island's blocked main road looked like a battle scene and scores of tourists had missed their flights.
Baan Don village chief or poo yai baan Sitthichai Jantawat is puzzled how the families of the two young men could have been content one minute with the governor's proposal then overwhelmed like all the other reasonable people by the out-of-control Saturday night uprising of a local mob.
Khun Sitthichai says there's still uncertainty in the community as the release of the men's bodies from Thalang Hospital looms in the next few days.
''We urge the people to stay calm and not allow unruly elements to start trouble again,'' he told Phuketwan. More than 30 arrest warrants have been approved by the Phuket Provincial Court and police have begun to pursue the suspects.
The advent of rumors on social networks has triggered two placatory messages from Governor Jamleran in the past couple of days and the mood of the young locals is difficult to read.
Khun Sittichai believes there were three groups among the local residents who took control of what had been a peaceful protest and turned it into a riot.
''There are first, the group who really don't like the police, perhaps hate is not too strong a word.
''Second, there are kids who have been previously arrested and don't like the police, and third, there are the drug dealers and their customers.''
The aggression shown during the Saturday night-Sunday morning riot is what disturbs authorities. Governor Jamleran has said that a reaction to street violence will be much swifter if there is any repetition, and the assumption is being made that it will not be soft-talking.
Among those pinned by rioters in the police station were newly elevated vice governor Chokdee Amornwat, Thalang chief officer Veera Kerdsirimangkon, Phuket's Police Commander Major General Pachara Boonyasit, Thalang Superintendent Colonel Chanuchan Cholsuwat and five deputy superintendents, all colonels: Peerayut Karajedee, Pinit Sirichai, Sakchai Limcharoen, Weerawat Chanwichit and Saman Chainarong.
Reinforcements sent from other police stations and a small Navy detachment failed to quell the mob's angry mood.
''We are concerned still because we have not been told what's going on,'' village chief Khun Sittichai told Phuketwan. ''We hear of arrests but nobody is talking about what is going to happen when the bodies of the two men are removed from Thalang Hospital to the temple in Baan Don.''
He added that he was concerned about ''social media and groups who want to create problems.''
As a community leader, Khun Sittichai was called in by authorities on the Saturday night to try to talk the crowd into going home. As with all the others who tried, Khun Sittichai's words of wisdom were ignored.
''Most of the village is calm and nobody is talking about the case,'' he said. ''But we do not know how the disaffected young will react.''
The riot has certainly exposed the broad social problem of recreational drug-taking on Phuket.
However, the autopsies on the two young men have shown that they had no drugs in their bodies, Public Health officials told Phuketwan yesterday.
''The findings of the doctors indicate they had taken no drugs for at least three days,'' an official said.
''In both cases, the causes of death has been found to be high-impact head wounds. One young man suffered a 20-centimetre gash to the head, the other suffered a smaller wound.''
An independent investigation panel has been given 30 days to determine findings on the circumstances that led to the deaths of the two young men during a police pursuit. Both families have agreed that the findings of the panel should be accepted by everyone.
The difficulty is, though, that the tragedy has been hijacked by unruly elements who welcomed the opportunity to confront police and may still be harboring ideas of a second face-off.
Any appeal by Governor Jamleran for calm as the bodies are taken to the temple is expected to be acknowledged by all reasonable and respectable villagers. It's the disaffected young who may yet cause more trouble.
'disaffected young'
My girlfriend & daughter have just come back from their last visit to Phuket to clear our possessions from the rented house we had for 19 years.
They were chased by such youths when going out on their motor bike mid evening to get some food - 3 bikes carrying 6 youths - shouting rude, crude & abusively at them.
It is really time that the good people of Phuket pressurised those that are not - & the police - into clearing such thugs off the streets.
Note: My family will not be back & my 19 y.o. daughter who was born in Phuket, when it was a much better place, has no regrets about leaving.
Posted by Logic on October 20, 2015 13:43