Civic groups issue demands

The People’s Movement for a Just Society (P-Move) and the “Save Bang Kloi” group jointly issued several demands on Tuesday for justice in the forest land dispute in Phetchaburi’s Kaeng Krachan National Park.

The demands came while rallying outside Government House for a third day yesterday.

They want Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa to stop making himself a party to the conflict between ethnic Karen villagers and state authorities over land the villagers are occupying in the park.

The protesting groups also demanded that all legal cases being pursued against 30 Bang Kloi villagers be dropped.

They also want a formal investigation conducted into a Feb 22 operation codenamed Phet Watershed Forest Protection, in which they said 13 villagers were detained and removed from Bang Kloi-Jai Pan Din, a forest village in the national park. The…