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Around 200 vendors gathered at the LST headquarters to submit their petition and discuss legal issues with LST officials. LST chairman Dej-udom Krairit said the vendors could also lodge complaints with the Commerce Ministry or the Administrative Court if the ministry refused to take disciplinary action against the officials.

Jessada Anujaree, a senior LST official, said although copyright infringement was a crime, law enforcement  against it must be carried out lawfully and in a non-violent way. "Copyright infringement, despite carrying lengthy prison term and heavy fines, is a reconcilable offence," he added.

He also questioned the ministry's employment of "several men in black uniform", who did not identify themselves to the vendors before indiscriminately snatching goods and dismantling their stalls in a violent way.

The incident and an ensuing melee between police, ministry officials, and the vendors has led to an internal investigation into alleged inaction of Bang Rak police towards widespread availability of pirated products in Patpong and other areas in their jurisdiction. Station chief Pol Colonel Ekkachai Bunwisut said he was not worried about the probe and regarded it as a forum to publicly defend Bang Rak police over the matter.

A ministry source said the men in black were Army reservists hired on a part-time basis to assist anti-piracy agents in the raid, and that none was armed. The source claimed many gunshots heard during the melee came from neither the officials nor the men in black.

The ministry would soon file complaints with the vendors, once details about injuries sustained by the officials and other matters were completed, the source said.