Thread: Thai workers run riot in Taiwan

‘WORST INCIDENT IN 20 YEARS’: Thai workers run riot in Taiwan
Published on August 23, 2005

Upset over work and living conditions, thousands attack police, fire fighters. Police are trying to find the main culprits in a Kaohsiung riot on Sunday involving thousands of Thai workers and will throw them out of the country.

In the worst violence seen in 20 years, police were attacked, cars and living quarters gutted and other property damaged when the workers vented their frustration over poor working and living conditions.

No one was injured, but Labour Minister Somsak Thepsuthin said the riots were the most violent in 20 years of Thais working abroad.

“Taiwanese authorities are investigating the incident to separate those who were involved in the riot from those who were not. We have to be fair to both employers and the Thai workers,” Somsak said.

The fighting started on Sunday night when a large group of Thai workers started drinking illegally in the compound of their living quarters.

The workers, who appeared to be drunk and noisy, had a fierce argument with a Taiwanese chief who tried unsuccessfully to calm them down.

Somsak said the chief was attacked and injured before the Thais went berserk. They then burnt vehicles and documents.

Taiwan TV reported that the workers also vandalised vending machines and set fire to their canteen. They used slingshots to attack police and fire fighters.

They then regrouped and demanded that their employer, Taiwan’s Mass Rapid Transit Bureau, improve their living and working conditions.

They also demanded that they be allowed to use mobile phones in dormitories and that their allowances be paid in cash instead of coupons. The Thais were employed to build a subway line in Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s second largest city.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow said about 100,000 Thais worked in Taiwan. About 24,000 workers, the largest group, work in Kaohsiung.

He said the Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei reported that the riot started because the workers were angry that the Taiwanese chief used an electric rod to get them to stop drinking.

They calmed down at about 5am, after about 500 riot police and fire fighters were called in.

Fang Lai-chi, an official of Taiwan’s Council of Labour, said the workers ended their 17-hour confrontation yesterday morning after the management company responsible for employing them agreed to dismiss several supervisors and end the ban on the use of cell-phones in dormitories.

In future, Fang said, foreign workers should address their grievances to the council, which is a Cabinet-level body.

Television stations showed workers sifting through debris in the fire-damaged office for their passports.

They also showed metal bunk beds arranged closely together in dormitories housing hundreds of workers.

The Nation, Agencies

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