[Thai] Govt fears rally could cause unrest over Preah Vihear case

PROTESTERS BLOCKED FROM REACHING PREAH VIHEAR 

Published: 7 Apr 2013 
Bangkok Post

More than 150 protesters kick-started a campaign yesterday against the International Court of Justice over its role in the Preah Vihear temple dispute.

The move has raised concerns in the Foreign Ministry that it could straine relations between Thailand and Cambodia.

Protesters from various groups, including the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), gathered at the city pillar in Si Sa Ket's Kantharalak district yesterday to promote their rejection of the ICJ's jurisdiction in the case.

They travelled to Khao Phra Wihan National Park in a bid to set up a protest camp near the Preah Vihear temple.

Authorities ordered soldiers and about 200 border patrol police to stand guard at Huai Dan bridge near Ban Phum Srol temple to prevent protesters from using the route to reach the disputed area.

National park officials have also closed Khao Phra Wihan National Park, five kilometres away from the bridge.

Following a brief stand-off at the bridge, the activists decided to retreat and they dispersed about 4.30pm.

The group has vowed to stage a series of protests in the lead-up to the ICJ's oral hearings of the case from April 15 to 19.

Cambodia asked the court in 2011 to interpret its 1962 ruling which granted the country ownership of the temple. But the court decision did not take into account the disputed 4.6 square kilometre area around the temple.

Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul warned the activists that protests could strain Thai-Cambodian relations.

Mr Surapong asked them "not to lead other people into a misunderstanding or cause trouble along the border".

He said what worried him the most was that their protest could affect the current peaceful atmosphere at border villages in Thailand and Cambodia.

"People at the border are living happily," he said. "I don't want them [the protesters] to become the spark of a new conflict."

The protest yesterday drew interest from villagers in Ban Phum Srol, a border village in Kantharalak district, as they prepared facilities for the activists.

Several villagers in the area who were once opposed to the PAD's demonstrations in the area are now aligning themselves with the group. The villagers fear that if the ICJ decision goes against Thailand, farmland taken from them when Preah Vihear was declared a national park won't be returned.

The villagers said they would stage protests, possibly alongside the PAD, if the ICJ verdict went in Cambodia's favour.

A former dean of Silpakorn University's Faculty of Archaeology, Wiraphan Malaiphan, who was one of the protest leaders, claimed Thailand has a right to the area of 4.6 square kilometres surrounding the temple.

He said protestors wanted to place a Thai flagpole there _ Cambodia had already placed one.

Pheu Thai deputy spokesman Anuson Iamsa-at yesterday urged people to stay at home and watch the live broadcast of the hearings from the courtroom.Mr Surapong said the government had set up a "war room" at Government House to coordinate with the Foreign Ministry throughout the five-day hearings at the ICJ.