- Title: THAILAND: RELEASED MUSLIMS REUNITED WITH FAMILIES.
- Date: 31st October 2004
- Summary: (EU) NARATHIWAT PROVINCE, THAILAND (OCTOBER 30, 2004)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: EXTERIOR OF MUANG DISTRICT OFFICE 0.04 2. MV/GV/CU: RELATIVES OF RETURNEES WAITING; SECURITY AT GATE; WOMAN CARRYING CHILD WAITING (3 SHOTS) 0.17 3. GV/MV: BUS CARRYING RETURNEES ARRIVING; RETURNEES ON BUS; RETURNEES GETTING OFF BUS (3 SHOTS) 0.40 4. GV/MV: VARIOUS RETURNEES REPORTING TO OFFICIALS' DESK (3 SHOTS) 0.50 5. SOUNDBITE (Thai) UNIDENTIFIED RETURNEE SAYING: "Until now, people are still very scare of soldiers because they fire their weapon at people like us." 1.00 6. GV: RETURNEES REGISTERING 1.06 7. SOUNDBITE (Thai) RETURNEE SAYING: "The soldiers shot at us directly, intentionally." 1.14 8. MV/GV: MAN CRYING AS REUNITES WITH FAMILY; ANOTHER REUNION (2 SHOTS) 1.29 9. SOUNDBITE (Thai) ANOTHER UNIDENTIFIED RETURNEE SAYING: "Can you imagine yourself being handroped backward and being putted on floor beneath other men atop you, how would you breath, it been hours of ordeal I was in a really bad shape." 1.39 10. GV: RETURNEES SHAKING HANDS 1.46 11. GV: ARMED SECURITY GUARDS 1.50 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 15th November 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: PATTANI, THAILAND
- Country: Thailand
- Reuters ID: LVAQCX1HH4BULP2Z7OD6EY47HMX
- Story Text: Thailand frees Muslims detained in protest.
Hundreds of Muslim men were freed in southern
Thailand on Saturday (October 30) after being detained last
week in the wake of protests that left 85 dead and outraged
Muslims worldwide.
Thai authorities said 300 of the 1,200 protesters
arrested last Monday would be prosecuted after one of the
bloodiest days in a 10-month wave of unrest in the
mainly-Muslim south.
About 150 men at a military camp in Pattani province,
one of several camps where the protesters were held,
boarded four buses for the journey back to Narathiwat,
where they had
demonstrated against the arrest of six villagers.
The poor region, home to most of Thailand's six million
Muslims, is seething with anger after 78 protesters
suffocated last Monday after being crammed into army trucks
and driven
three hours to a military barracks in Pattani.
One survivor told Reuters last week that the troops
piled up protesters in trucks "like bricks", and stomped on
them when they cried out for air.
Another seven died as a result of wounds suffered at
the demonstration, which security forces broke up by firing
live rounds, tear gas and water cannon.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said earlier
that 900 of the detainees would be released from Saturday,
but the other 300 would face charges over Monday's protest
and other crimes.
Thaksin, under pressure from close ally the United
States and regional Muslim neighbours, said on Friday an
independent commission would "investigate the incident with
the aim of bringing wrongdoers to justice."
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