A Thai female reporter for France 24 TV was nearly lynched while she was interviewing a woman inside the Pathumwanaram Temple at noon Tuesday.
Nice Pojanametbalsatit had to run away from the angry protesters and rescued by guards before she was taken to the are area behind the Rajprasong rally stage.
She was interviewing a middle-aged woman who came to live inside the temple with two children.
During the interview, some protesters shouted that the reporter and her TV crew were setting up the interview to discredit the protesters.
The angry protesters alleged that Nice had the woman speak that she wanted to go home but the red-shirt guards prohibited her from leaving.
Nice said some protesters also hit her in the head.
The protesters shouted that anyone was free to leave so the woman was telling a lie.
Before completely enveloped by the protesters, Nice ran away and some guards came to her rescue.
She was then led to meet and talk to Aree Krainara, the chief red-shirt guard, behind the stage.
She told Aree that she was simply making a documentary on the living of protesters inside the temple but some protesters thought she and her crew were setting up the scene to give the protesters a bad name.
"Then, they incited other protesters to attack me and hurl abusive words at me and hit my head," Nice said.
She recounted that she had been attacked by protesters at Phan Fa twice because of similar misunderstanding.
During the talk with the chief guard, a guard, who took Pojanamet from the temple, alleged that the reporter tried to take pictures inside the temple although the abbot prohibited photo taking.
But other Thai reporters said the guard was telling the lie because the abbot did not prohibit photo taking.
Aree then asked the guard to leave the scene.
Nice then asked Aree to ensure that guards would protect the unnamed woman who gave an interview to her because other protesters might attack the woman as well.
The woman said she was telling the France 24 reporter that she would not go home but other protesters misunderstood her and thought she was saying that guards were preventing her from going home.
The woman said other demonstrators shouted at her and said she could leave anytime.
When the protesters were closing in on Nice and the woman, Nice ran away to draw the angry protesters to follower her so that woman and her children would not by lynched, the woman recounted.