Red-shirt demonstrators are reportedly so paranoid that journalists might set them up to say they are being forced to stay at the rally site that they attacked a female Thai reporter for France 24 television channel while she was interviewing a woman inside the Pathum Wanaram Temple yesterday afternoon. The reporter was also representing Irrawaddy newspaper.
Interviewing a middle-aged demonstrator who had sought refuge at the temple with her two children, Nice Pojanametbalsatit and her TV crew became the target of some angry demonstrators. The crowd accused her of misleading the interviewee into saying that she wanted to leave but was being held back by the red-shirt guards.
The protesters then shouted that everyone was free to leave and that the woman being interviewed was telling a lie. They also attacked Nice and her TV crew for reportedly setting up the interview to discredit the protesters.
Nice managed to escape the angry crowd and was rescued by the guards. She was then taken to the area behind the Rajprasong rally stage to talk with Aree Krainara, the chief red-shirt guard. Nice explained to Aree that she was simply making a documentary film on protesters taking refuge in the temple, but some protesters thought she and her crew were setting up the scene to give the red-shirt protesters a bad name.
"Then, they incited other protesters to attack me, hurling abuse at me and they even hit me on the head," Nice said, recounting that she had been similarly attacked by protesters at the Phan Fa Bridge twice because of similar misunderstandings.
Aree then apparently told Nice that over the past couple of days some people had falsely reported that mothers and children at the temple wanted to go home but were being forced to stay. He said he believed Nice was innocent and insisted that journalists had full freedom to report on the rally.
While talking to Aree, one of the guards alleged that Nice had tried to take photographs inside the temple even thought the abbot had prohibited the use of cameras and any moves to cause trouble. However, other Thai reporters present said the guard was telling a lie because the abbot had not prohibited anybody from taking photographs.
Aree then asked the guard to leave. Nice, meanwhile, asked Aree to ensure that the woman who had given her the interview would be protected from the angry protesters.
Red-shirt leader Dr weng Tojirakarn, who was present at the talk between Aree and Nice, told the guards at the temple to not be so untrusting of journalists.
The mother of two at the temple said she had told the France 24 reporter that she would not go home but other protesters had misunderstood her and thought she was saying the guards were preventing her from leaving. The woman said other demonstrators kept shouting at her, saying that she could leave anytime she wanted.
When the protesters were closing in on them Nice ran away so the angry protesters followed her instead of attacking the interviewee and her children, the woman recounted.
After the talk, Nice and France 24 crew were allowed to leave the site safely. Other foreign journalists covering news at the temple followed because they were concerned about their safety too.
Following the incident, press associations issued a statement calling for heightened security measures by both red-shirt leaders and security officials to minimise risks faced by reporters working in the protest areas.
In their joint statement, the Thai Journalist Association and the Thai Broadcast Journalists Association called on red-shirt guards to explain the role of reporters to the protesters and provide journalists with security within the protest sites.
The statement also called on soldiers and police to exercise caution when using weapons and consider the harm reporters might face when security plans are implemented.