Wed Night Patpong raid/riot

[TrongpaiExpat]

Government Takes Tough Stand on Pirate Goods

Published: 7/05/2009 at 06:11 PM Bangkok Post

The current crackdown on intellectual property violations will continue, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Thursday, echoing the tough stance of Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot who vowed earlier in the day to conduct raids on sellers of pirate goods every two days.

Mr Alongkorn also pledged to make sure ministry officials display identification before commencing arrests and confiscating goods.

The government's hardening of its stance follows a raid on vendors in Patpong on Wednesday night and a clash which led to 11 people being injured.

Vendors filed a series of police complaints against commerce officials, accusing them of assault, damaging property and abuse of authority.

Mr Alongkorn said the public must view Wednesday nightтАЩs incident fairly as officials on the raid also suffered serious injuries.

Mr Abhisit said he would be going over reports of the incident to determine if officials acted inappropriately, which might prompt a revision of raid procedure.

Venders clashed violently with ministry officials in BangkokтАЩs tourist centre of Patpong. There were reports of gunshots being fired into the air to scare off the officials.

About 200 vendors and 50 commerce officials were involved in the conflict, which erupted after officials raided sellersтАЩ booths to arrest them for intellectual property violations and confiscated their goods.

Officials arrested four sellers and made off with four vans loaded with confiscated counterfeit goods, mostly pirate copies of bags and clothes.

The arrested vendors were taken to Bang Rak police station. They were given bail on Thursday morning. Another vendor under charge was being treated for his wounds at hospital.

Other vendors shortly afterwards marched to Bang Rak police station to file charges against the commerce officials. They accused them of assault and causing damage to property.

Some sellers, covered in blood smears, told reporters they were assaulted by the raiding party. Market vendors continued to file charges with police throughout Thursday.

National police chief Gen Patcharawat Wongsuwan said he instructed the chief of Bangkok police to closely supervise all issues relating to the incident.

Pol Gen Patcharawat said he would examine reports that Central Investigation Bureau police took part in the raid.
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We were at the Balcony Birthday party when all this was going on. Soi 4 was not involved but we were getting word that something was afoot over on Patpong. We walked over there after the smoke cleared and ran into a few of the sellers who were quite upset. Funny the raid was at 6 and the silom dealers don't set up until 7, so they did not get hit. One DVD dealers I buy from all the time, told me, don't worry all will be back to "normal" on Saturday. Another claimed that these were not the "normal" police and did not have uniforms. No one knew who was who, everyone was hitting everyone. Stalls were smashed and it was more of a riot than a raid. When the "normal" police came to restore order and since they were out anyway they then decided to raid the bars on Patpong. They did not enter soi Twilight.

Now, today there's word that the army is out in the area?

Now, today there's word that the army is out in the area?

around 9pm last nite there was a handful of soldiers with riot shields in soi Convent just down from the corner Silom rd. there were just standing in a line alongside the footpath

[TrongpaiExpat]

Patpong skirmish injures 17, vendors file police complaint
By The Nation
Published on May 8, 2009

Vendors at the Patpong Night Market yesterday lodged a police complaint accusing anti-piracy officials of abusing their power and using excessive force during a raid on Wednesday night.

One vendor is in critical condition after being hit on the head by a group of men armed with sticks who raided the market together with officials from the Commerce Ministry. The raid later turned into a full-blown melee.

At around 11pm on Wednesday, a team of more than 100 people raided the market and indiscriminately started seizing items from stalls, angering the vendors, who responded by throwing stones and objects at the officials. Later, some 200 vendors blocked adjacent roads and intercepted a ministry van carrying their products. Three other vans managed to get away. The skirmish left 10 officials and seven vendors wounded.

The vendors, in their police complaint, charged the anti-piracy team with armed robbery, assault and firearm possession. The officials had earlier filed piracy-related changes against the vendors.

In their complaint, the vendors said the officials did not identify themselves before seizing the products and did not separate contraband items from legal ones. Some vendors were even dragged onto a van and beaten up as the vehicle drove around until dawn before they were released.

A senior police officer later said the Commerce Ministry officials had not notified the Bang Rak police station, whose jurisdiction covers the market, nor had it informed the Economic and Cyber Crimes Division about the raid - a practice usually followed prior to any anti-piracy operations. Pol Maj-General Wibool Bangthamai said two Army officers from an irrelevant Supreme Command unit were also involved in the raid.

Under standard police procedure, items need to be identified, contraband products seized and legal items returned to vendors, Wibool said. The division's main policy focuses on crackdowns on production or storage sources, while small vendors are only arrested after ignoring warnings from police.

Thanks to a joint decision between police and ministry officials, a directive has been issued requiring police officers to regularly conduct anti-piracy operations across Bangkok and report to the Metropolitan Police Bureau every seven days after May 15.

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There were photos and a few other articles in the print edition. The army presence was unrelated to all this. They were there for a meeting of health officials at the Dusit about Swine flu.

It was not the police that did the raid. It was authorities from the Ministry of Commerce, made necessary because the police don't do fuck-all about the problem.

[MiniMee]

the police don't do fuck-all about the problem.
Really? What do they do then?

[SoiVC Slut-old]

the police don't do fuck-all about the problem.
Really? What do they do then?


Walk around with their hands outs of course

[quote="Beach Bunny":6uiu0kp7] the police don't do fuck-all about the problem.
Really? What do they do then?


Walk around with their hands outs of course[/quote:6uiu0kp7]

Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding! We have a winner!

[TrongpaiExpat]

[youtube:2a43f7u0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Sx1fotlrzA[/youtube:2a43f7u0]

Boy, its all go in Bangkok.
Glad to see even the PM is on top of things.

"Beware evildoers, wherever you are!"

[TrongpaiExpat]

longkorn told to cool it after ruckus in Patpong

By: MANOP THIP-OSOD
Published: 9/05/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News

The Democrat Party has put the brakes on Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot's crackdown on retailers of pirated goods and has asked him to target the producers instead.


Alongkorn: Asked to target producers

The move was announced yesterday by Democrat spokesman Buranaj Samuttaraks, after some 200 traders from the Patpong area gathered at the party's headquarters.

The vendors complained that Commerce Ministry officials had over-reacted with their Wednesday-night crackdown on intellectual property violations on Patpong Road.

"We will treat each side fairly," Dr Buranaj told the traders.

The crackdown should be aimed at producers of pirated goods as they were the root cause of the problem, and it should be made sure that any action taken would not hurt tourism in anyway, said the spokesman.

The Democrats will meet to discuss the matter again next Tuesday, in a bid to find softer ways to deal with traders selling pirated goods in Bangkok.

Wednesday night's operation ended in a brawl when traders clashed with officials who confiscated the illegal goods, mostly counterfeit bags and clothes, and loaded them into four vans.

About 10 officials were injured in the melee.

The traders were aware of their wrongdoing, but said they want the government to adopt a more peaceful approach.

Mr Alongkorn, who heads the state's anti-piracy campaign, previously said the ministry would deal harshly with intellectual property violators by launching raids every two days. The Patpong shopping area would not be spared.

The deputy minister, who is visiting South Africa, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Meanwhile, the police have set up an inquiry panel to question Bang Rak police chief Pol Col Ekachai Bunwisut, as Patpong falls under his jurisdiction.

He has been heavily criticised for turning a blind eye to piracy in his district, said Metropolitan Police Bureau chief Pol Lt Gen Worapong Chewpreecha.

But no senior officers have been transferred from Bang Rak district so far, deputy city police chief Wiboon Bangtamai said.

Preventing the sale of pirated goods is a police officer's duty, but the force deals with the matter in a different manner from commerce officials, Pol Maj Gen Wiboon said.

Officers usually begin their action once they receive complaints from manufacturers and then raid the production sites or warehouses of the pirates.

"Arresting small street sellers would face resistance," he said.

Despite attempts to negotiate and warn the retailers, Pol Maj Gen Wiboon said that sometimes the arrests also led to unexpected injuries and deaths.

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The old lady that I buy DVS from was right. "Come back Saturday, all will be back to normal then", I was told Wed night.