Displaced traders in give-away gesture
About 200 traders whose stalls were destroyed in the Sunday market at Chatuchak by 200 armed men on Thursday gathered yesterday at the place they thought was theirs to give away their ornamental fish, fish food and other wares to passers-by.
Veera Udom, chairman of the Sunday Market Cooperative, said they had done so to show that the market would survive and not be closed. The live-fish vendors at Chatuchak as well as some other vendors there and traders at the Bo Bae market have all been ordered out of their usual sites. Veera and his friends were not pleased with the results of negotiations arranged by Maj-General Amnuay Nimmano, deputy commander of Metropolitan Police Division 2, on Friday with representatives of the State Railway of Thailand, the Legal Execution Department and Thanasarnsombat Pattana Co. He claimed the police who meditated the discussion had not allowed vendors to present their proposals. Veera now rests his hopes with the Lawyers Council of Thailand, which is to host another round of talks. About 300 vendors from Bo Bae market went to Pom Prab district office requesting permission to continue doing business at their old site. The office recently ordered the merchants to relocate their stalls to a new building prepared for them near the old market. Narongchai Nutthapun, their leader, said they did not want to commit to three-year leases and pay higher rent at the new shopping centre.
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