Hmong refugees protest against repatriation bid

The protest began in the middle of May after a Hmong leader Lee Xue was detained for giving information of forced repatriation to the international media, accusing the Thai military which oversees almost 8,000 refugees in the camp. Lee Xue told the US-based Radio Free Asia that a group of 67 Hmong returnees had been forced by the military to return to Laos recently.

The military has denied the accusation claiming that everyone in the group volunteered to return.

The 33 protesters have been admitted to a field clinic in the camp run by Medecins san Frontiers, the single medical service on the site, after they collapsed.

"We will continue our strike until the Thai authorities agree to process resettlement in third countries, or at least allow us to live in Thailand," said the Hmong via a phone interview from the camp.

The military, under the supervision of the Third Army Region, has refused to allow journalists or observers from outside to enter the camp.

Thailand has sheltered the Hmong since late 2004. Some claim they were associates of the Central Intelligence Agency's secret fighters who fought against the Communist movement in the 1960's and 1970's - and fled from suppression in Laos.

Laos has rejected the claims and together with Thailand considers most of the group as illegal migrants who were helped by human trafficking gangs to seek better lives in Thailand and perhaps have a chance to resettle in third countries.

Thailand has continued to repatriate them.