Phuket sea gypsies protest water shortage

PHUKET: Phuket Police and local officials are in meetings with leaders of the Rawai Sea Gypsy community this afternoon following a street protest that held up traffic for about an hour this morning.

About 250 members of the community took part in the protest, which began at about 8:30am on a section of Wiset Road near Rawai Pier.

At the heart of the dispute was water rights.

A well that had been the villagers’ primary water source ran dry after development of private land nearby.

Arriving to negotiate with the sea gypsies was Phuket MP Rewat Areerob, Phuket Provincial Police Commander Pekad Tantipong and Rawai Mayor Aroon Solos.

The protesters agreed to re-open the road and move the protest to nearby Wat Suwanarom after Mayor Aroon promised to provide them with water from the temple supply within 30 days.

The water shortage comes at a particularly galling time for the Rawai sea gypsies, who just yesterday conducted a traditional ceremony to “wash away” bad luck.

The ritual required villagers to pray all Wednesday night over urns of water blessed by the community’s spiritual elder.

Yesterday morning, the villagers bathed themselves with the water to purify themselves and ward off bad luck.

This morning they awoke to find their well had run dry.

— Sitthipong Nongkaew