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Published on January 28, 2008

 The clash between supporters and opponents of a steel mill project last week that left one man dead and more than 10 others injured in Prachuap Khiri Khan province unfortunately marks an ugly, bloody chapter in the fight for civic rights in Thailand. While the violence was deplorable, the incident also raises a serious question on the efficiency of the local police force's crowd-control capability in emergencies.

The violence erupted last Thursday after people opposed to the construction of a steel mill by the Sahaviriya Group confronted supporters of the project at the construction site in Bang Saphan district. About 200 opponents reportedly staged a protest there to try to stop workers from digging a drainage canal to be connected to the mill. The stand-off escalated as about 100 supporters of the project joined the workers in confronting the protesters. A violent clash ensued and gunshots were heard during the melee. One man was shot and died later in hospital while more than 10 others were injured.

The gunshot victim, Raksak Kongtrakul, 36, was one of the steel mill's supporters. Several of the injured were reportedly wounded with metal pieces shot from catapults. Police said they found spent pistol shells at the clash scene and also seized catapults with many pieces of ammunition cut from steel rods. Both of the brawling sides blamed each other for the violence and denied that any of their members carried weapons.

The controversy over the project has been going on for some time and has come under investigation by the National Human Rights Commission. Opponents reportedly wanted construction work on the steel mill to stop pending the National Environment Board's opinion on the second environmental impact assessment report that is currently under its review. According to national human rights commissioner Sunee Chaiyaros, the company was asked to submit the new report after the first one faced legal complications over the project's location on a peat swamp. One of the points that opponents have raised in their campaign against the project is that wastewater to be drained from the mill will pollute a local peat swamp that is due to be declared a watershed area.

Aggressive protests by villagers opposing major projects that are deemed to have large-scale environment impact have been common in Prachuap Khiri Khan over the past decade. This is understandable as local people have become more concerned about their environment and quality of life and have united against such projects. High-profile protests by locals resulted in the cancellation of two coal-fired power plant projects in the province's Bor Nok and Baan Krud areas in the past few years. Last week's protest against the Sahaviriya steel mill, however, brought a sad twist to the fight for civic rights in the province because it was marred by a death and injuries. The incident should remind authorities to consider the sensitive points in local people's environmental concerns with discernment when they plan any other major projects in the province.

While a legal investigation into the shooting and related cases of assault with weapons during the clash in Bang Saphan is under way, the role of local police in controlling the volatile situation has come under public scrutiny. Many have questioned what the police were doing during the protest and whether they had tried hard enough to prevent the violent clash. Bang Saphan police were quoted in news reports as saying that they manned the protest site according to security procedures and did check for weapons among those entering the area. A back-up force was reportedly called in as the situation worsened, but a violent clash finally broke out despite the police presence and weapons were then used in the fight.

If police insist that they did their best according to prescribed security measures, their failure to prevent the violent clash is stark evidence of a complete lack of efficiency. This is a lesson that the national police force and other security agencies must learn so that they can map out a better crowd-control procedure for major protests elsewhere in future.

The Nation