Police deal Section 44 with first student brawl

The Royal Thai Police deputy commissioner yesterday vowed to impose penalty on the parent of two technical students, friends, colleges and any people who supported them to commit crimes after they were arrested for shooting on rival students on a city bus, injuring four students and innocent people.

The shooting came less than a week after the prime minister decided to invoke Section 44 of the interim constitution to deal toughly with unruly students fighting each other, using arms.

Under the order issued under Section 44, not only students but their parents will be held responsible. This included supporters and colleges of the brawling students.

Pol Gen Pongsapat Pongcharoen, deputy commissioner of the Royal Thai Police, announced penalise patents of the two students after they were escorted to reenact the shooting of their rival students in Minburi.

He said this would be the first student violent case that the police would tackle all people responsible under Section 44.

He said now the police could act promptly to subdue student violence and also work more smoothly to get all those involved for punishment.

He said under this special law, it empowered the police to detain brawling students for six hours and summon their parents for questioning.

College of these brawling students could also face punishment if they did not do enough to take care of their students.

They could be disallowed to admit new students in the next semester if investigation showed they neglect to need the new order of the prime minister.

Pol Gen Pongsapat also said the police would also find senior students who backed student brawls and take them for legal action.

Parents must account for their children’s rogue behaviour and this also will apply to people who support the violence, he said.

Yesterday the police brought two students of the Minburi Polytechnic College of Technology, to react the crime after the duo had confessed to shooting their rivals on the bus.

Nattapong Sangtong-ngarm or Boy and Pakawat Tunma or Pae prostrated themselves at their parents’ feet to repent for their wrongdoing after they fired shots at rival college students on Bus No 131 at Minburi market on June 27. Four people on the bus were injured .

At the press conference, the duo said they met their rivals for the first time and the rivals gave the middle finger, which was considered an insulting and obscene gesture.

They chased them in a motorcycle and then shot at them on the bus before fleeing.

Three students from Kanchanaphisek Technical College Mahanakhon, and one Myanmar woman on the bus were injured in the attack.

After the incident, they regretted their crime and told their parents to bring them to report to the police.

Police yesterday also questioned a mother and a grandmother of the two students to find out whether they had warned their children against violence.

Yesterday acting metropolitan police commissioner led the police and soldiers to search for weapons and illegal items in Bangkok College of Industrial Technology while another team of officials conducted search at Bangkapi Technology College.

The searches were conducted under Section 44.

However, no weapons have been found during the searches.

Thai PBS

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