PAD guards accused of violence at besieged airport

Taxi driver Pairoj Phew-ondee filed a complaint at Rachathewa Police Station that he was driving the passenger to the airport's Fire Prevention Centre when two vehicles chased and hit the rear of his taxi.

 He said he was apprehended by the guards who forced him at gunpoint to lie face down. After convincing them he was the taxi's driver he was released.

His passenger, Pol Sergeant Major Kriengsak Khunnatham said he was chased by PAD guards because he was wearing part of his police uniform, but not carrying a gun. He said the PAD guards assaulted and interrogated him in a tent, holding a gun to his head. Fearing he would not make it out alive, he begged them for release, which they did.

Yesterday morning, rescue workers found Chaiwat Maleerak, 24, with a gunshot wound to his back and a knife wound under his chin, in a ditch near the airport. He remains unconscious at Nopparat Ratchathani hospital.

It was suspected Chaiwat might be the same man seen earlier being chased by PAD guards who accused him of being an undercover pro-government supporter at the airport.

The man asked for help from media members at a broadcast van behind the airport's parking lot, telling them he feared for his safety and wanted to go to his home in Phitsanulok

While talking, the man spotted the guards and started to run but he was apprehended and beaten.