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DAM-L LS: Pak Mool protesters start hunger strike (fwd)
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Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 20:03:58 -0700 (PDT)
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subject: LS: Pak Mool protesters start hunger strike
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The Nation, July 28, 2000
Pak Mool protesters start hunger strike
THIRTY-NINE Pak Mool dam protesters began
a hunger strike outside Government House
yesterday to demand that the government
address their remaining problems.
Sub-Lieutenant R N Chalad Vorachat, whose
solo hunger strike set the stage for the uprising
that toppled the Suchinda government in 1992,
said he would join the hunger strike beginning
on Tuesday. Another hunger strike led by
Chalad in 1994 led to the present drive for
political reform.
One lone hunger striker, Ing Tawaisila, 46, who
began on Wednesday, yesterday said she felt
fine after 24 hours. Ing said her main concern
was that the government resolve the dispute
over land in the Roi Et forest.
Meanwhile, more than 1,500 workers laid off
from Thai Kriang Textile Co joined the 3,000
protesters already at Government House to
demand that the government negotiate with the
company to allow them to return to work and
have the lawsuits against them dropped.
Also, about 500 people from non-governmental
organisations and pro-democracy and labour
groups dressed in black yesterday as a
symbolic call for the government to dissolve
Parliament and call an early general election.
They said the government has failed to bring
about the economic recovery, to stem
corruption, and to reform the political system.
Wanida Tantiwithayapithak, an adviser to the
Assembly of the Poor, the group spearheading
the dam protest, demanded that the
government organise a televised public hearing
chaired by Senator Chermsak Pinthong to find
solutions to the problems caused by the Pak
Mool and Sirinthorn dams.
Wanida also denied reports that the
International River Network has provided
financial support to the protesters.
The Cabinet last week decided to implement
some of the solutions proposed by a neutral
committee formed to address the protesters'
problems, including their main demands that
the Pak Mool and Rasi Salai dams' gates be
opened.
Unsatisfied, the protesters immediately said
they would stage a hunger strike.
Facing mounting pressure, deputy
secretary-general to the Prime Minister
Amnuay Patiseh said he would ask the Cabinet
to decide on Tuesday whether to conduct a
public hearing on the remaining issues.
Chamroen Waraporn, president of the Law
Society of Thailand, yesterday asked the
Criminal Court to postpone for 30 days the
detention of the 189 protesters arrested for
trespassing on Government House grounds.
He said most of the protesters have returned to
their home provinces and failed to respond to
his request that they appear in court.
BY SUBHATRA BHUMIPRABHAS
The Nation
LAST MODIFIED: Thursday, 27-Jul-2000
12:23:39 EDT
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