SOUTH PROTEST
Demonstratorsend blockade
Muslims clear road after officials agree to free suspects
More than 300 Muslims in Krong Pinang district, mostly women and children, yesterday ended four-days of demonstrations to force the release of 24 suspected militants after authorities agreed to free them and withdraw a unit of rangers from the area within a month.District chief Methe Kancha-napuva said militants had forced Muslims in the area to stage the protests. The demonstrators blocked the Yala-Betong road to put pressure on the authorities. Negotiations began yesterday at 9am with Yala Deputy Governor Nathapol Wichianprert. The first round of talks failed as the demonstrators refused to alter their demands. The second round of talks resumed an hour later with Madaree Yayuree, a member of the local assembly, and Colonel Rangsarn Sirirangsi, deputy secretary general of Yala's Internal Security Operations Command. The demonstrators agreed to go home after the authorities promised to release the 24 suspects within a month, return their confiscated motorbikes and withdraw a unit of rangers from Ban Rupae in Krong Pinang sub-district. Angkana Neelaphaijit, the wife of missing prominent Muslim lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit, together with Adilan Ali-Ishoh, chairman of the Muslim Law Society visited the demonstrators late yesterday morning. At about 12.15pm, the demonstrators slowly drifted away, with some helping to clear the road to allow traffic to resume along the Yala-Betong road which is a major artery between Yala's down town area and the southernmost border district of Betong. A group of Buddhists who had organised a counter demonstration in Yala's Bannang Sta end their road blockade after being informed of the Muslim protest ending. Chairman of Southern Islamic Culture Foundation, Chamroon Den-udom, a former deputy commander of the Fourth Border Police Region, said the government should make clear detention procedures under the emergency law which authorises officials to detain suspects without charge for 30 days. "Local residents tend to see such action as an unjust practice that affects them and that opens the chance for militants to manipulate movement against the authorities," he said. The government could not crack down on protests since that could get out of hand, but there were other ways to prevent demonstrations if the authorities were keen enough and prepared to use high-ranking officials to handle arrests, he said. Army spokesman Akra Thiproj said the Army had considered issuing a special law to ban demonstrations on main roads to prevent similar incidents in the future.
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