Amid pandemic, alcohol sellers in Thailand grapple with longer-term restrictions, SE Asia News & Top Stories

BANGKOK • A small crowd forms in the Bangkok hypermarket as a staff member hauls out boxes of beer. The customers – all wearing masks – are so restless that another employee has to hold them back while the pallet truck is being wheeled down the aisle.

All restraint disappears as soon as the boxes are put in place. Eager men and equally determined women lunge at the boxes, tearing off their shrink wrap. They jostle to the front of the scrum and lug away the closest available box. In less than a minute, all the beer is gone.