Angry crowd riots on Phuket after 2 killed in police crash
Scores of local residents in a small rural town in Phuket island joined the protest, throwing stones and setting fire to police vehicles before they were dispersed early Sunday.
At least nine cars were set alight and 11 others were damaged by the angry mob, which threw objects at a police station, with officers trapped inside.
Details are not yet clear but about 5pm it was reported in one online social network that a crowd of about 100 had gathered outside the Thalang Police Station in Thepkasattri Road, Phuket’s main north south thoroughfare. 700 Army and Police reinforcements were called in to handle the mob that surrounded the police station. “It was loud and chaotic”, Amnuay said, adding that officers were instructed to keep calm and not retaliate.
Seven police vehicles were torched last night at the Thalang Police Station where several hundred protesters hurled petrol bombs and stones over the deaths of 17-year-old Therapong Srisamut and Pathomwat Panarak, 22, who reportedly died earlier Saturday when a police pick-up truck crashed into a motorcycle they were attempting to flee upon.
Fox News reports that the recently deceased were on a motorcycle when local authorities initiated the deadly pursuit – a pursuit which occurred because, according to Police Lt. Col Amnuay Kraiwuttinan, the two men are drug suspects.
Police are investigating the deaths of the two Thai men, who were aged 17 and 22. The crash left both victims with severe head injuries and they were pronounced dead upon arrival at Thalang Hospital.
However, relatives of the dead men and the angry crowd accuse the police of overreacting.
Phuket police chief Pachara Boonyasit vowed there would be a fair trial for anyone held responsible, but his assurances were met with skepticism.
Prawut Thawornsiri, the police spokesman, posted on Twitter that four police officers who were involved in the incident had been transferred to the Region 8 Provincial Police headquarters, pending investigation.









