Senate probers say govt, police violate human rights in Oct 7 incident
Written by Writer on Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
Senate probers say govt, police violate human rights in Oct 7 incident
BANGKOK, Nov 11 (TNA) – Parliamentary probers investigating last month’s violence at the Thai Parliament concluded that the protesters had violated principles of human rights as the police bypassed appropriate step-by-step procedures when they used tear gas, according to the Senate Commission on Human Rights, Liberty, and Consumer Protection.
Chairman Somchai Sawannkarn of the senate commission said the results of the fact finding sub-committee assigned to investigate political violence and conflict showed that the police action to disperse the anti-government People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protesters which caused the death of two people and the wounding of hundreds of other must be considered a human rights violation which abused the rights and liberty of the public.
Two persons died and nearly 500 others injured in the October 7 clashes as protesters attempted to block the government from announcing its policy statement to the House.
Senator Somchai said the October 7 bloodshed could have been averted if the government used other gates to enter the parliament or the House Speaker decided to delay or change the venue for the policy address.
The government and police must take responsibility for the results of the street violence as the police skipped several appropriate procedures in crowd control as there was no negotiation with the protesters to ease the situation, with the police instead deciding to use tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters blocking access to Parliament, he said.
The commission has determined that the police action was not in accord with the international declaration on human rights and was excessive, Senator Somchai said.
As for the government’s compensation, even though it approved a budget of Bt56 million to help the victims, the commission viewed that the measures were inappropriate and unfair and may lead to the resort of more violence in the future.
The sub-committee to investigate political violence and conflict was one of three sub-committees set up by the Senate in response to the October 7 incident.
The two other sub-committees were assigned to investigate the death of Angkana Radabpunyawut, who died of severe injuries to her chest and left arm on the way to hospital, and the use of tear gas by the police. (TNA)
