Minister pelted with bottles of water and food by angry farmers

Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong (Finance) was pelted with bottles of water and food by angry farmers yesterday. The minister was speechless when he failed to answer the question when they will finally be paid for the rice they have handed in under the rice mortgage system.

Hundreds of farmers went to an office of the Ministry of Defense on Chaeng Wattana Road, where Prime Minister Yingluck temporarily has her workspace, and waited for her to come out. They broke through a barbed wire barrier, but did not enter the building. Yingluck, however, did not appear; at 18 p.m. Kittiratt was allowed to take the chestnuts out of the fire.

When he again came up with the excuse that the government couldn't do anything because it was caretaker, the farmers had had enough. They started shouting and some called on the government to resign. Guards pushed the minister inside when farmers began to pelt him. The farmers then returned to the Ministry of Commerce in Nonthaburi, where they have been camping since Thursday.

Earlier that morning, but that was before the bank run at the Government Savings Bank IGSB) became known, Kittiratt said at a press conference that the Treasury Department is working with the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) to raise funds so that farmers can be paid.

He said that the BAAC had acquired short-term loans, apparently referring to the GSB loan. According to Kittiratt, the BAAC has enough money and has been paying the farmers since last week. The farmers could expect their money within six to eight weeks.

The farmers will be back in action on Wednesday. Farmers from the Northeast will then join the farmers already in Bangkok. More than XNUMX farmers in the area are preparing legal action against the government with the help of the Lawyers Council of Thailand.

(Source: Bangkok Post, February 18, 2014)