ID :
136489
Sat, 08/07/2010 - 12:52
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Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/136489
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Activists gather at Government House, Din Daeng stadium over Preah Vihear temple row
BANGKOK, Aug 7 -- Two activist groups Saturday rallied in front of the Government House and at a stadium in the heart of the Thai capital, slightly more than a week after the UN cultural agency postponed to next year the discussion of a management plan for the ancient Preah Vihear temple proposed by Cambodia.
Despite an emergency decree banning any gathering of more than five people now in effect in Bangkok, activists Veera Somkwamkid, who now leads the so-called ‘Thailand Patriot Network’, gathered outside the Thailand's seat of government while retired Maj-Gen Chamlong Srimuang, a leader of the yellow-clad People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), rallied peacefully at the Thai-Japanese Sports Complex in downtown Bangkok's Din Daeng.
No violence was reported as about one thousand police and border patrol police patrolled the areas to ensure that the events do not become disorderly.
Urging Mr Veera and his followers to withdraw from Government House and join his people at the sports stadium, Gen Chamlong, a former Bangkok governor, said both groups could work together in “defending Thailand’s territory from Cambodia.”
Gen Chamlong said his group does not want to be in conflict with the government over the issue and is “ready to cooperate with the House Foreign Affairs Committee” in setting up an extraordinary committee to study to resolve the temple problem. He advised that the temple issue should become a national agenda.
He said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva would join the debate later with equal numbers of participants--three persons each from the people and from the government--which will be telecast live on the government-run NBT station.
Reiterating that his four demands announced earlier remain in place, Gen Chamlong said the Thai government must scrap a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in 2000 between the Thailand and Cambodia, push Khmer soldiers and civilians out of the disputed Preah Vihear temple, and neither accept nor sign the management plan in the disputed area with the government in Phnom Penh.
Under the MoU between Thailand and Cambodia on the survey and demarcation of land boundary signed in June 2000, both parties agree not to carry out any changes of environment in the frontier zone, pending the survey and demarcation of the common land boundary.
Gen Chamlong declined to say when his group would disperse saying he would have to ask them first.
Tensions between Thailand and Cambodia intensified after the Thai government delegation objected to Cambodia's unilateral management plan for the historic temple as both neighbours found no common ground to settle their dispute over 4.6 sq km of land adjacent to the temple, an historic monument which was granted world heritage status in 2008.
Meanwhile, Mr Veera told his ‘Thailand Patriot Network’ after discussing with police and military officials, that this was not the time to have conflict or scuffle with them otherwise they could not get Thailand's territory back.
The 'patriots' moved from Government House to the 1st Army Area Headquarters and are awaiting an answer from the prime minister, he said.
Mr Veera also told his network to prepare for the prolonged protest. If the premier did not have clear answer for their demand, they would return to the Government House. (MCOT online news)
Despite an emergency decree banning any gathering of more than five people now in effect in Bangkok, activists Veera Somkwamkid, who now leads the so-called ‘Thailand Patriot Network’, gathered outside the Thailand's seat of government while retired Maj-Gen Chamlong Srimuang, a leader of the yellow-clad People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), rallied peacefully at the Thai-Japanese Sports Complex in downtown Bangkok's Din Daeng.
No violence was reported as about one thousand police and border patrol police patrolled the areas to ensure that the events do not become disorderly.
Urging Mr Veera and his followers to withdraw from Government House and join his people at the sports stadium, Gen Chamlong, a former Bangkok governor, said both groups could work together in “defending Thailand’s territory from Cambodia.”
Gen Chamlong said his group does not want to be in conflict with the government over the issue and is “ready to cooperate with the House Foreign Affairs Committee” in setting up an extraordinary committee to study to resolve the temple problem. He advised that the temple issue should become a national agenda.
He said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva would join the debate later with equal numbers of participants--three persons each from the people and from the government--which will be telecast live on the government-run NBT station.
Reiterating that his four demands announced earlier remain in place, Gen Chamlong said the Thai government must scrap a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in 2000 between the Thailand and Cambodia, push Khmer soldiers and civilians out of the disputed Preah Vihear temple, and neither accept nor sign the management plan in the disputed area with the government in Phnom Penh.
Under the MoU between Thailand and Cambodia on the survey and demarcation of land boundary signed in June 2000, both parties agree not to carry out any changes of environment in the frontier zone, pending the survey and demarcation of the common land boundary.
Gen Chamlong declined to say when his group would disperse saying he would have to ask them first.
Tensions between Thailand and Cambodia intensified after the Thai government delegation objected to Cambodia's unilateral management plan for the historic temple as both neighbours found no common ground to settle their dispute over 4.6 sq km of land adjacent to the temple, an historic monument which was granted world heritage status in 2008.
Meanwhile, Mr Veera told his ‘Thailand Patriot Network’ after discussing with police and military officials, that this was not the time to have conflict or scuffle with them otherwise they could not get Thailand's territory back.
The 'patriots' moved from Government House to the 1st Army Area Headquarters and are awaiting an answer from the prime minister, he said.
Mr Veera also told his network to prepare for the prolonged protest. If the premier did not have clear answer for their demand, they would return to the Government House. (MCOT online news)
