Bangkok

Truck drivers carrying ‘royal supporters’ face charges for travelling on expressways

Published

Wednesday, October 14, 2020 18:06

PHOTO: Nation Thailand

6 truck drivers carrying loads of ‘royalists’ to the Democracy Monument, are facing charges pressed by the Expressway Authority of Thailand, or EXAT. The yellow-clad ‘supporters’ of the royal family stood tightly packed on the bed of Department of Law Enforcement trucks, riding down the Kamphaeng Phet-Yommarat tollway. They were all dressed in yellow, a colour that symbolises the Thai Monarchy. Why they were ‘trucked in’ from outer provinces has not been explained at this stage.

Some drivers took photos of the government ‘cheer squad’ packed on the trucks, questioning if they had broken any laws. In fact, they did. EXAT says the drivers violated the 2012 Expressway Traffic Act which prohibits passengers from riding in the bed of a truck without a cover and 2 rows of seats. They also defied the government’s own guidelines, covered under its emergency decree, preventing ‘large gatherings’ without adequate social distancing.

“The expressway authority has filed police complaints against the truck drivers, who will be fined 1,000 baht for breaking the law.”

Toll collectors claimed that from their position seated in the toll booth, they could not see that people were standing in the truck bed.

The royal supporters, either rent-a-crod or real, were on their way to Democracy Monument for the Royal motorcade, which happened to be planned on the same day as a pro-democracy rally. Some royalists were ironically seen raising their hands in the 3 finger salute, which is used by pro-democracy protesters as a symbol of resistance against Thailand’s military-run government.

Other police groups were shipped in from outer provinces, some even travelled from Phuket under command, to put on the yellow shirts, wave small Thai flags and line the streets along the route of this evening’s motorcade.

SOURCE: Nation Thailand

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11 Comments

Toby Andrews

Wednesday, October 14, 2020 at 6:27 pm

Slap the cuffs on those law enforcement truck drivers. Off to the slammer with them.
They cannot be one law for royalists and another for those lovely cuddly innocent student protesters. The students would have been prevented.
However I am totally neutral in my opinion of the matter . . .

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Hk chan

Wednesday, October 14, 2020 at 6:54 pm

Come on thai government, democracy is legel on most modern country. Don’t do that like HongKong and China government.

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Tim Houston

Wednesday, October 14, 2020 at 7:18 pm

It is very common to see Myanmar workers carried that way all over Phuket, but hey that doesn’t brake the law since they aren’t Thai.

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Michael

Wednesday, October 14, 2020 at 7:53 pm

A fine of 1000 Baht will teach them a lesson! ;))))

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John

Thursday, October 15, 2020 at 12:12 am

Anti monarchy protests are supported by the same group that is supporting the anti China HK protests.
The real story is they want a change in Thai law that currently doesn’t allow foreigners to run and own banks in Thailand.
Protests in HK are about allowing this same group the freedom to move their ill-gotten wealth from China.

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- The Thaiger & The Nation
  
  Thursday, October 15, 2020 at 8:25 am
  
  Please provide evidence of this contention.
  
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James

Thursday, October 15, 2020 at 2:08 am

That will teach them a good lesson, each of the passengers will have to pay 20 baht each towards the fine 🙂

No mention of the fact they are packed together in the truck and then packed together in the thousands while the virus is being spread far and wide.

During my 7-month stay this year in Phuket, I saw all the supermarkets were packed with people with no social distancing, large queues of people bunched together in the street receiving the free food being handed out, yet only 60+ people have died of the virus so far.

I can’t stop laughing and wondering why people believe such information?

In the UK there have been tens of thousands of deaths, that is because we have easy access to tests for example I booked a test online last week and was tested three hours later so we know the truth about how many have the virus and have died, but then again we are a democracy.

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John C.

Thursday, October 15, 2020 at 7:14 am

Imagine a monarch so unpopular that they literally have to ship in truckloads of rented supporters.

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- Red Shirt
  
  Friday, October 16, 2020 at 4:09 am
  
  Imagine your comment getting published. Amazing.
  
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James Pate

Thursday, October 15, 2020 at 7:54 am

Honestly? Would you expect the toll booth operators to be able to do anything?

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Preesy Chepuce

Sunday, October 18, 2020 at 4:12 am

Perhaps EXAT are concerned about the possibility of an RTA, with all the implications of that?

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Caitlin Ashworth

Caitlin Ashworth is a writer from the United States who has lived in Thailand since 2018. She graduated from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and media studies in 2016. She was a reporter for the Daily Hampshire Gazette In Massachusetts. She also interned at the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia and Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida.

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