Yellow Shirts rally against Thai-Cambodian border documents

BANGKOK, Nov 2 - Thailand's 'Yellow Shirt' People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) on Tuesday gathered at Parliament to express their opposition to the adopting the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission (JBC)'s meeting reports as Tuesday’s session of parliament is due to vote on endorsing the documents.

The Thai Constitution requires that any agreement made with other countries must first gain parliamentary approval.

PAD leaders Maj-Gen Chamlong Srimuang, Sondhi Limthongkul (pictured), and Pipob Thongchai led demonstrators, marching from Royal Plaza to the parliament at 8am amid security provided by about 750 police officers.

The PAD demanded that the agenda items dealing with the three previous meeting reports of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) be withdrawn from the parliament session.

The PAD rallied on the sidewalk and are not obstructing conduct of the joint parliamentary session as an emergency decree remains in effect in the capital.

Mr Sondhi said their rally would be peaceful and would not be prolonged, but if the parliament endorses the documents, the PAD activists will convene a mass rally again in December and their demonstration at that time will be prolonged until their demands are met.

PAD member Amorn Aamaratthanon addressed the crowd from a truck-mounted mobile stage on a truck, saying the Yellow Shirts have scheduled a small forum to educate the public on the issue until 6pm. The PAD are expected to decide their next move later today.

Meanwhile, the Administrative Court on Monday dismissed the PAD petition and upholds enforcement of the Thai-Cambodian 2000 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by Thai and Cambodia.

The PAD on Friday petitioned the Central Administrative Court seeking an injunction barring implementation of the 2000 MoU and to revoke three documents dealt with by the JBC meeting.

The Yellow Shirt movement believes that the JBC agreement is disadvantageous to Thailand. PAD spokesman Panthep Puapongpan said the petition was necessary as there was clear evidence that Thailand might be at risk of losing its territories once the 2000 MoU is implemented. In addition, he said the document is yet to be approved by parliament, which is considered unconstitutional.

The PAD earlier issued a statement claiming that the documents originated from the MoU signed by Thailand and Cambodia in June 2000 related to the survey and boundary demarcation.

The documents are based on the 2000 MoU which recognises a French map with a scale of 1:200,000 sq km which the PAD said puts Thailand at risk of losing territory. (MCOT online news)