Street Smart Sukhumvit

A family running a clothing store in Bangkok's Nana area say they are being intimidated by thugs in a dispute over pavement space.

A woman known as Farida and two men dressed in black attire went to the front of Bob's Fashion on Sukhumvit Soi 3 on Tuesday at about 6pm. They attempted to remove merchandise displayed on the pavement.

''I told them that if they touched our stuff I would charge them with trespassing,'' said Jazz Ratisatien, 38, the daughter of the store's owner.

An argument lasted for about 30 minutes. The police arrived, mediated but refused to press charges.

''They [the police] told us to go the court and complain ourselves,'' said Ms Ratisatien.

This wasn't the first time. On the evening of Jan 4, seven men threatened Ms Ratisatien's two elderly parents, who have been running Bob's Fashion for 35 years. Four of them were wearing army jackets, two were in black and one was a known local gangster by the name of Sua Dam (Black Tiger).

There was a minor scuffle as the men attempted to clear merchandise from the stall on the pavement. Ms Ratisatien said a glass was thrown at her mother. Ms Ratisatien suffered a wrist injury.

The police showed up, but Ms Ratisatien said they had a private talk with the gang leader, who claimed to be a military officer. After the talk, the police tried to smooth the situation but did not press charges.

The conflict is over the pavement in front of Bob's Fashion, where Ms Ratisatien's father had allowed an acquaintance, Ms Farida, to sell her merchandise. The arrangement lasted for three years until Ms Ratisatien's father asked for the space back and Ms Farida refused.

Ms Ratisatien alleged that Ms Farida hired the thugs to intimidate her parents.

By law, pavements are public spaces and it is illegal to use them for business, but most pavements in Bangkok are crawling with hawkers.

Ms Ratisatien says that in Nana city inspectors, tesakij, charge 500 baht per month for hawkers to use the pavement. Normally, the shop owner gets priority to rent the pavement in front of the shop.

She showed a document that stated her parents had the right to the pavement space, for which they pay tesakij 500 baht per month. She said tesakij kept records of all the street hawkers, detailing who owned which space and the payment.

Wattana district chief Sajja Kontrong said in principle a right to occupy the space would belong to those who registered themselves, not to subcontracted vendors. He said his officers would investigate the case and asked police for their cooperation.

Pol Col Ittipol Atchariyapradit, deputy director of the Metropolitan Police Bureau's Division 5, said he had heard of some tesakij doing business outside the system. However he denied that police were involved.

He said Nana is home to many foreigners and there are many cases, but he had never received a complaint about bribery. ''But if anyone has trouble, they can inform the police. We will examine the case,'' said Pol Col Ittipol.

Tong, a painter selling his art on the pavement space near Bob's Fashion who witnessed the incident on Tuesday, said: ''The police normally don't like to get involved. When there's a dispute, you go to Seh.''

According to Tong, locals refer to this figure as Seh Dam, Seh Daeng or just Seh and there is speculation he has military connections.

''Mama'', a well known figure who runs runs a group of prostitutes in Nana, says that whenever someone has a problem, they go to Seh, and then things can be arranged. But she denied any knowledge that Seh might be linked to the military.

Normally, according to her, if violence erupts or muscle is required, 40 or 50 thugs from nearby slums can be hired to do the job. ''Two weeks ago, a policeman and a soldier shot at each other inside a club,'' Mama claimed. ''Then someone cleared it up.''

Read the original article on the "Bangkok Post" HERE.

** DISCLAIMER: Nana ain't all bad. Proof is HERE.

sukhumvit

bangkok

thailand