001024 Villagers throughout Songkhla province, Thailand, hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails on Oct. 22 to protest the construction of a Thai-Malaysian pipeline that is to displace 40 villages. A confused Thai policy on dealing with protestors gave leverage to community activists. About 500 protestors besieged police headquarters in Chana town and touched off a national campaign, jeopardizing the pipeline plan. The proposed pipeline will connect regions of southern Thailand to the Thailand-Malaysia Joint Development Area gas fields in the Gulf of Thailand.
Construction is to begin next year.
Though angry that the pipeline could uproot homes, protestors were more hostile to the government's failure to open up project discussions to the community. About 200 protestors rallied at the Hat Yai sports arena Oct. 21 to block a so-called public forum to approve the pipeline contract. Protestors drove a six-wheeled truck through the locked gates of the arena, catching the meeting after a hasty vote to approve the project. Protestors alleged police fired live ammunition on a crowd of 40 piled into a truck as it left the stadium. On the morning of Oct. 22, protestors gathered at the Songkhla district police headquarters to vilify the alleged police assault.