Vendors reopen near home of ‘furious aunties’

The roadside stalls were located only 50 metres from the house of two “furious aunties”, Rattanachat Seangyoktrakan, 61, and Ranee Saengyoktrakan, 57, who made headlines by attacking the pickup of a customer of the market.
Prawet district chief Thanasit Metphanmuang said the section of the road where the stalls were set up was private property and not under the city’s control. 
He also said the crowd seen in the photos included 20 food vendors from the markets, which had hosted 500 to 600 vendors, members of the public who exercised at a nearby park and then shopped for food, and outside vendors. 
He said he was negotiating with them and had instructed Thesakij city law enforcers not to use violence against them. 
“I don’t want to see them arrested and fined because I sympathise with people struggling and trying to make ends meet,” said Thanasit, who himself had to pay a Bt5,000 fine levied by the Central Administrative Court for failing to control the five markets after the Seangyoktrakans complained about congestion in the area. 
The five markets had operated for years without permits, but were ordered to close temporarily by Bangkok Governor Aswin Kwanmuang on February 21, pending a Central Administrative Court ruling on a complaint filed by residents against the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and its officials. 
The issue gained notoriety after Rattanachat and Ranee assaulted a woman’s pickup with an axe and shovel because it was parked blocking the entrance to their home last month. 
Complaints have been filed in regards to illegal parking, noise and other neighbourhood problems stemming from the markets’ activities.