Migrant workers go home after fight with Thai shopkeepers

An argument between the two groups broke out in Layaune on New Year when a person from Kayah (Karenni) State named Saunt Ye, a migrant worker employed at a construction site owned by a Thai businessman, began fighting with a Thai liquor store owner who was drinking.

When the drink-seller said that Saunt Ye had not paid him the cash he was owed, witnesses said about 20 other Thais interrupted the quarrel between the two and began beating up Saunt Ye.

“We saw that about 20 Thai people were beating him after tying his arms with rope,” said migrant worker Kyaw Thu Phyu, who returned home via the Myawaddy Friendship Bridge on the border near Mae Sot.

“We thought he would die. Now his face is still badly swollen. Myanmar workers were then fired on with a gun. Due to shots fired by the Thais, Myanmar worker Maung Tun was injured in his left arm. There was no right or wrong. Even though the fight was spontaneous and two sides were involved, the Thai police arrested only the Myanmar workers.” More than 200 Myanmar workers have been employed at the construction site in Layaune. But 140 of them were arrested and detained for three days in a Thai police station because of the dispute.

The detainees were released on Friday, but 124 of the Myanmar workers returned home that day and on Saturday because it was impossible for them to continue working at the construction site, they said.