Street drama: Locals accuse police of sight-seeing while Vietnamese visitors cause trouble on Pattaya’s Walking Street

Exasperated locals in Pattaya reached out to a news agency to highlight the trouble caused by a group of Vietnamese women and children on Pattaya Walking Street after accusing the police of turning a blind eye to the problem.

Locals in the area informed Amarin TV that several Vietnamese women, and their children, are harassing foreigners on Walking Street to buy their products, such as flowers and candies. Pattaya residents are up in arms because of their aggressive approach to selling their wares. Instead of waiting for customers to approach them, they aggressively target anyone who passes by, pressuring them into buying their products.

According to residents, Vietnamese women carry their children when approaching visitors to seek sympathy from them. Some foreigners interviewed admitted they find their behaviour annoying but bought the products to escape their persistence.

Residents expressed their worry about the negative impact on the reputation of Pattaya and Walking Street. They fear that foreign tourists may not be able to distinguish between these Vietnamese and Thai people, which could lead to tarnishing the overall image of the area.

The locals believe that there must be some powerful people behind the Vietnamese operation, adding they have been arrested several times but they always return to the street.

Police officers have been accused of ignoring them. Residents also believe these Vietnamese people entered the country illegally.

In related news, last month a Vietnamese durian seller was caught deceiving Thai customers by tampering with a weighing machine to make it register a higher weight. The offender faced the penalty of imprisonment of up to seven years, a fine of up to 280,000 baht, or both according to the Weight and Measure Act.

Another Vietnamese man was arrested last month for stealing the identity of a Thai citizen and tricking Thai residents with the sale of counterfeit land plots and title deeds.