.JPG)
PHUKET: Police cleared vendors' equipment from Patong beach yesterday, and later the vendors gathered at Kathu Police Station to sing the national anthem to officers.
About 50 vendors, masseuses, clothing sellers and hair-braiders took part in the unusual protest.
The Superintendent of Kathu Police Station, Colonel Jirapat Palchanaphan, told the protesters that he was obliged to carry out the law.
He said the military had decided that vendors could continue selling at Patong, as long as they did not establish kiosks or use permanent fixtures.
Frequent visitors to the beach from Scotland, Germany and Switzerland, who looked on during the seizures, told Thai media that they had been coming for years and missed the beach sunbeds and umbrellas that once covered large sections of Patong and other beaches - Kamala, Karon, Kata and Surin especially.
''I don't want to barbecue at the beach,'' one told a television camera.
Tourists are able to bring their own umbrellas and chairs but vendors are not permitted to rent them at Phuket beaches.
In neighboring Kata-Karon, along the west coast from Patong, 12 people including the mayor have been issued with warrants and 102 others facing offences relating to the beaches have been told to report to Karon Police Station on Wednesday.
The beaches are public and supposed to be free of commercial activity.
Two decades of locals making money illegally from the beaches have left then without a source of income. Tourists are confused and many frequent visitors miss their sunbeds.
However, the cleared beaches - which belong to all Thais, not just those who have been illegally making money from them - look magnificent and some tourists appreciate the change back to nature.
Phuket's Governor Nisit Jansomwong, due back mid-week from a trip to China, is expected to consult authorities on the law about whether it's possible to restore sunbeds and umbrellas in confined areas at Phuket's beaches.
However, in past years the umbrellas have always grown in number each year until the beaches are virtually covered in them.
The neighboring provinces of Krabi and Phang Nga do not permit sunbeds and umbrellas or jet-skis and appear to be more in keeping with the Government of Thailand's approach to protecting public space and appealing to tourists who enjoy beaches in a more natural state.
About 50 vendors, masseuses, clothing sellers and hair-braiders took part in the unusual protest.
The Superintendent of Kathu Police Station, Colonel Jirapat Palchanaphan, told the protesters that he was obliged to carry out the law.
He said the military had decided that vendors could continue selling at Patong, as long as they did not establish kiosks or use permanent fixtures.
Frequent visitors to the beach from Scotland, Germany and Switzerland, who looked on during the seizures, told Thai media that they had been coming for years and missed the beach sunbeds and umbrellas that once covered large sections of Patong and other beaches - Kamala, Karon, Kata and Surin especially.
''I don't want to barbecue at the beach,'' one told a television camera.
Tourists are able to bring their own umbrellas and chairs but vendors are not permitted to rent them at Phuket beaches.
In neighboring Kata-Karon, along the west coast from Patong, 12 people including the mayor have been issued with warrants and 102 others facing offences relating to the beaches have been told to report to Karon Police Station on Wednesday.
The beaches are public and supposed to be free of commercial activity.
Two decades of locals making money illegally from the beaches have left then without a source of income. Tourists are confused and many frequent visitors miss their sunbeds.
However, the cleared beaches - which belong to all Thais, not just those who have been illegally making money from them - look magnificent and some tourists appreciate the change back to nature.
Phuket's Governor Nisit Jansomwong, due back mid-week from a trip to China, is expected to consult authorities on the law about whether it's possible to restore sunbeds and umbrellas in confined areas at Phuket's beaches.
However, in past years the umbrellas have always grown in number each year until the beaches are virtually covered in them.
The neighboring provinces of Krabi and Phang Nga do not permit sunbeds and umbrellas or jet-skis and appear to be more in keeping with the Government of Thailand's approach to protecting public space and appealing to tourists who enjoy beaches in a more natural state.
What about Kamala? Are the police just continuing to watch the burgeoning encroachment at the beach from the police station terrace and doing nothing?
Posted by phonus on December 2, 2014 08:52