'Men in black' attack slum dwellers in Klong Luang

[StrontiumDog]

'Men in black' attack slum dwellers in Klong Luang

'Men in black' attack slum dwellers in Klong Luang

By The Nation on Sunday
Published on July 3, 2011

A group of 200 men yesterday raided an abandoned factory in Klong Luang in Pathum Thani, which members of the Four Regions Slum Network had occupied - burning down 30 of about 200 shacks erected over the past two months.

After a clash with residents, the men retreated and stood guard around the disputed 615-rai plot of land, which they claim was sold by the Thai Asset Management Corp to a businessman who hired them.

The men, who wore black clothing and green scarves, burnt down shacks near Phaholyothin Road and fought for one hour with 40-50 residents armed with just sticks and stones.

A few gunshots were heard during the melee, which led the two sides to separate. But the disturbance caused a traffic jam several kilometres long.

Later, 50 men in black, carrying long knives, were seen camping outside the block, while Khlong Luang police tried to give a protected ride for slum dwellers who gathered on the inner corner of the land.

Ubon Ratchathani native Taingsa Warisa, 57, said she and fellow poor people had lived on the land for over a month as they had no money and no place to stay. She said her family was preparing to leave for Ubon Ratchathani to vote when the men raided the land, fired guns and hit her fellows with wooden sticks. She insisted they would not move anywhere.

[drawp]

slum dwellers have a network? didn't realize those types were so organized.

[robuzo]

I smell the plot of the next Ong Bak flick.

[StrontiumDog]

Bangkok Post : Owner admits his men tried to drive out squatters

Owner admits his men tried to drive out squatters

• Published: 4/07/2011 at 12:00 AM
• Newspaper section: News

The company owner who sent 200 armed men to evict squatters occupying his land, resulting in violent clashes, insisted he had the right to do so.


Woodenhuts were built to form a squatter community in a land plot once owned by the bankrupt company Thai Melon Polyester Plc. On Saturday, about 200 armedmen wearing black stormed onto the land and torched many of the huts housing the squatters. PONGPAT WONGYALA

Thamanat Prompao, a former army captain who is the chairman of Thamanat Group, which owns the 616-rai plot housing a disused factory in Khlong Luang district, admitted the black-clad men were his staff and insisted he was justified in deploying them on Saturday.

He said he had earlier filed a complaint with police over the presence of the illegal occupants on his land, but no action was taken.

"They didn't dare step in because they believed those squatters were being exploited by the mafia as a tool to gain bargaining power [over us]," said Capt Thamanat.

He said he had tried to negotiate with the squatters to leave the land but they refused and he decided to take action against them.

A group of about 200 men in black stormed the plot on outbound Phahon Yothin road on Saturday and torched 30 of about 1,000 wooden huts housing the squatters.

Capt Thamanat said his company won an auction to buy the land from the Thai Asset Management Corporation for 3.2 billion baht. The land was previously owned by the bankrupt Thai Melon Polyester Plc.

The squatters set up on the land about two months ago.

About 200 were living there, although there were far fewer involved in the violence as many had returned to their home provinces to vote.

According to Capt Thamanat, some of those who stayed behind were armed with AK and M16 rifles and M79 grenade launchers. He said this explained why six of his men were seriously injured in the clashes.

The men in black left when Khlong Luang district police arrived. Nobody was arrested.

Despite Capt Thamanat's insistence that he was acting within his rights by sending his men in to force the occupants out, Pathum Thani provincial police chief Wattana Khetsamut has been given until today to secure a warrant for the arrest of whoever ordered the attack.

The deadline was issued by national police chief Wichean Photephosree yesterday morning as he chaired a video conference with regional police chiefs on the election day situation.

Pol Gen Wichean told Pol Maj-Gen Wattana and Pol Col Permkiat Suriyawong, the Khlong Luang district police chief, that their station would face a disciplinary investigation if they did not meet the deadline.

A source said the squatters called themselves the People's Council of Four Regions and were led by Praphas Ngoksungnoen.

After failing to occupy land plots in the Northeast, the group moved on to the Thai Melon Polyester land, the source said.

[rawlins]

Looks a nice squat. Stayed in resorts that looked worse than that.

[corvettelover]

so could these men in black who appear to be rented out,
be the same ones the dems (men in black) said attacked the reds in bangkok 15 months ago
?????

[StrontiumDog]

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/loca...k-on-squatters

Warrants out in squatter attack

• Published: 4/07/2011 at 12:08 PM
• Online news: Local News

The Thanyaburi Court on Monday approved a warrant for the arrest of two men in connection with the attack by 200 men in black on a community of squatters on a deserted 616-rai plot in Pathum Thani's Khlong Luang district where a textile factory was formerly located.

One arrest warrant is for Capt Thammanat Prompao, 46, owner of the Thammanat Guards Co, and the other is for an unidentified 48-year-old man.

Capt Thammanat is wanted for allegedly hiring the armed men to raid and burn down some of the 1,000 makeshift houses of people who had encroached on the land.

The other man is wanted for torching other people's property and illegal possession of a weapon.

Capt Thammanat had earlier admitted the black-clad men were his men, sent to evict the squatters, leading to a clash in which two of the men in black were injured.

The squatters called themselves the People's Council of Four Regions and were led by Praphas Ngoksungnoen.

Capt Thamanat said his company won an auction to buy the land from the Thai Asset Management Corporation for 3.2 billion baht. The land was previously owned by the bankrupt Thai Melon Polyester Plc.

The squatters set up on the land about two months ago.

[StrontiumDog]

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingn...ef-transferred

Pathum Thani police chief transferred

• Published: 4/07/2011 at 02:29 PM
• Online news:

The chief of Pathum Thani police, Pol Maj-Gen Wattana Khetsamut, has been transferred to an inactive job at the Royal Thai Police Office in connection with the attack by 200 men in black on a community of squatters on a deserted 616-rai plot in Pathum Thani's Khlong Luang district on Saturday.

Pol Maj-Gen Prawuth Thawornsiri, the police spokesman, said disciplinary action was taken against Pol Maj-Gen Wattana for neglect of duty.

The Region 1 Provincial Police office had been instructed to consider taking similar action against Pol Col Permkiat Suriyawong, the Khlong Luang district police chief, he said.

A bout 200 men dressed in black stormed the squatter settlement alongside outbound Phahon Yothin road on Saturday and torched 30 of the estimated 1,000 wooden huts.

The Thanyaburi Court earlier today approved warrants for the arrest of two people - Capt Thamanat Prompao and an unidentified man.

Capt Thamanat, chairman of the Thammanat Group, is wanted for hiring armed men to raid and burn down some of the 1,000 makeshift houses of people who had encroached on the land.

The other man is wanted for torching other people's property and illegal possession of a weapon.

Capt Thamanat said earlier his company won an auction to buy the land from the Thai Asset Management Corporation for 3.2 billion baht. The land was previously owned by the bankrupt Thai Melon Polyester Plc.

The squatters called themselves the People's Council of Four Regions set up on the land about two months ago.

Capt Thamanat admitted he sent the 200 armed men to evict squatters occupying his land.

[StrontiumDog]

Bangkok Post : Evicted squatters step up demands for land

Evicted squatters step up demands for land

Homeless poor chased from a deserted factory site are bedding down at Chaeng Wattana

• Published: 10/07/2011 at 12:00 AM
• Newspaper section: News

Hundreds of squatters evicted by armed men from a disused factory site in Pathum Thani last weekend have taken occupation of a government building at Chaeng Wattana instead.


HERE TO STAY: Squatters evicted from a Pathum Thani factory site last weekend are now occupying a Chaeng Wattana government complex.

They are refusing to leave until the government delivers on its promises to help the landless poor.

The rights group behind the squatters has also called on landless poor from elsewhere in the country to occupy state-owned properties to force the government's hand.

The landless squatters are from the North and Northeast and are involved in a dispute between a rights group fighting on their behalf, which promised them homes, and government agencies which they claim failed to deliver on promise to provide them with land.

The squatters have occupied an open-air hall at the Chaeng Wattana government complex, sleeping on blankets, mats and plastic sheets with the few possessions they managed to salvage when 200 masked men set fire to their wooden huts last weekend.

''I don't know, I just keep waiting,'' said Kamta, a 63-year-old rubber farmer from Ubon Ratchathani.

''I just hope that we will hear from the government and that they will resolve our land problems and give us a new plot of land.''

Mr Kamta, from tambon Non Ki in Sirinthorn district, arrived at the Pathum Thani site near Paholyothin Highway in May.

He lost his 30 rai of land in Ubon Ratchathani a few years ago, when it was found to overlap with the newly declared Buntarik-Yodmon wildlife sanctuary.

He was unable to gain access to the farmland, and threatened with arrest.

''I didn't think that I would leave home to lead my life here, but it seems I have no choice,'' Mr Kamta said.

The Council of People from the Four Regions, an advocacy group fighting on their behalf, is urging Mr Kamta and thousands of rural poor nationwide to leave their homes and occupy government-held property. The council has pressured successive governments to tackle the problem of landless farmers since 2002.

In 2008, it demanded the government set up a fund to buy back land for 1,800 landless farmers who had joined the group. In February 2009, the group managed to obtain a cabinet resolution which promised to provide the farmers with 1.7 billion baht for land purchases and redistribution.

The Agricultural Land Reform Office (Arlo) was appointed to work with them to buy land from private entities and redistribute it to landless farmers.

But Arlo's progress was sluggish _ only about 400,000 rai of land for the farmers was bought _ and the purchase of private land turned out to be a complicated process.

In the middle of last year, the council started a campaign to occupy land under the control of the Thai Asset Management Cooperation (TAMC).

The TAMC was established to manage non-performing assets following the 1997 economic crisis and subsequently held authority over land and properties from firms that went bankrupt.

The council instructed landless farmers to occupy TAMC land in 20 provinces, but mostly in the Northeast, which they believed would put them in a stronger bargaining position with the government.

The matter was further complicated when the TAMC wound up operations last month after holding a ''fire sale'' of its assets in the first six months of this year.

The squatters occupied the Pathum Thani site because they believed it was still owned by the state.

It was sold at auction to a private company, but Prom Srisangkom, one of the group's leaders, argued it was still under the control of the TAMC.

In many similar cases, public land had been sold at auction to a private buyer, but the sale not finalised at the time it was occupied.

Mr Prom said the landless farmers would continue to occupy land.

The group would look for a new site for the squatters evicted from the Pathum Thani site, which he said was auctioned for half its market value.

''The government approved millions of baht to build a house for a panda. That's insane. What about our farmers?'' he asked.

''We need to accelerate the process of finding land for them.''

Mr Prom also rejected reports that the council was collecting fees of up to 15,000 baht from the squatters for resettlement.

Squatter Netr, who came from Lop Buri province to work as a motorcycle taxi driver in the Rangsit area, said he had invested 20,000 baht of his savings to build his hut on the 616-rai deserted Pathum Thani site which was once home to a textile factory.

Mr Netr, who has three children to support and previously lived in a small rented apartment in Rangsit, said he did not pay any fees to squat on the land.

He said about 200 armed men dressed in black arrived at the squatter settlement last Saturday.

They torched the squatters' wooden homes. Gunshots were heard and the squatters fled.

''We left almost all of our household items there and haven't dared go back to the site to retrieve them,'' Mr Netr said.

The site owner, former army captain Thamanat Pongpao, has denied organising the raid and blames a losing rival bidder whom he says wants to gain control of the property.

[Dick]

it is the only way to get rid of the trash , think asking them to leave would work ?

[Mid]

it is the only way to get rid of the trash

so how do we get rid of you