By The Nation
More than 300 people gathered on Phet Kasem Road in Chumphon's Tha Sae district yesterday to express opposition to the government's planned mega-projects in the South.
The demonstrators wore green crab masks and staged a "mass-planking" event - in which groups of people lie motionless, face down, with their arms by their sides - on the road, blocking traffic for several hours.
They rallied under the name Network of People from 14 Southern Provinces.
"How could the project to construct a deep-sea port in Chumphon's Pathiu district receive approval from the authorities without any public hearing?" Supanat Duangklom asked yesterday.
He chairs the Pathiew Conservation Network, which joined the event organised by the network yesterday.
Supanat said the deep-sea port would destroy the local environment, which is home to a great variety of crabs and clams.
The deep-sea port project, he said, was just one of many industrial mega-projects the government planned to launch in the southern region.
"Although these projects have received financial support from the Asian Development Bank, we are against them," Supanat said.
He said such mega-projects involved high-polluting, heavy industrial facilities like petrochemicals and coal-fired power plants.
"These projects are similar to those polluting [Rayong's] Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate," he said.
Supanat described these pollution-heavy projects as "mobile industries", because they had to keep moving to new bases after locals realised they would have adverse health and environmental impacts.
"They even move from country to country," he said. "They serve foreign investors."
The demonstrators said they staged the rally to make it clear that southern residents intended to formulate their own policies for their region.
They would not accept big industrial projects that would destroy their quality of life, they said.
Chumphon Deputy Governor Chayawut Jantorn travelled to the site to hold negotiations with Sunthorn Rakrong, who heads the Network of People from 14 Southern Provinces, after the mass-planking caused serious traffic congestion on Phet Kasem Rd.
After the negotiations, the demonstrators dispersed peacefully.
Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2011/08/23/national/Rally-against-mega-projects-blocks-traffic-in-Chum-30163415.html
