Updated: Rubber protest spreads as talks fail

Thousands of rubber growers escalated their protest Tuesday by blocking several roads in the South and Rayong. The government is continuing without success its attempt to negotiate a way out of the crisis.

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Rubber farmers blockade a section of Highway No. 41 near the Surat Thani Cooperative in Phunphin district to demand the government arrest falling rubber prices yesterday. However the protesters lifted the road blockade later in the day. PATIPAT JANTHONG

Noon update: Talks in Surat Thani between leaders of rubber growers and Pol Maj Gen Thawat Boonfueng, deputy secretary-general to the prime minister, have broken down. The leaders questioned the government's sincerity since Pol Maj Gen Thawat had no decision-making power.

The local leaders have told those gathered in Surat Thani to continue protesting in their own districts, carrying out their own separate negotiations.

Authorities are worried there will be attempts to close government offices and shut down airports in the South. The Surat Thani International Airport is located only two kilometres from the protest centre at Surat Thani Cooperative in Phunphin district.

It is also not clear if the proposed meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong in Bangkok can go ahead.

Rubber farmers reject cabinet subsidy offer

Government sends negotiator to Nakhon Si Thammarat

POST REPORTERS

A government representative will negotiate with rubber farmers in Nakhon Si Thammarat Wednesday after they threatened to intensify their protests following a cabinet offer which failed to appease them.

Thousands of growers Tuesday escalated their protest by blocking several roads in the South and Rayong, including Highway No.41 in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Highways No.417 and No.41 in Surat Thani, the main road in front of provincial hall complex in Rayong, and a road in Phatthalung's Si Nakharin district.

The Thassala district office has become the latest protest venue in Nakhon Si Thammarat. There are also protests in neighbouring Phattalung and Surat Thani provinces. NUCHAREE RARKRUN

The cabinet Tuesday approved 5.62 billion baht from the central budget for use as a subsidy for rubber planters, as proposed by the national rubber policy committee.

Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong said a subsidy of 1,260 baht per rai of rubber plantation, limited to 10 rai per farmer, will be transferred through Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BACC) accounts directly to rubber growers.

The approved subsidy is lower than the one the government earlier offered and which was accepted by rubber farmers in the Central Plains, the North and Northeast, but rejected by those in the South and the East.

Previously, the government offered a subsidy of up to 25 rai per farmer.

Mr Kittiratt has asked rubber farmers to send their representatives to hand in their additional demands at the Centra Government Complex Hotel in Chaeng Watthana area of the capital at 2pm Wednesday.

But the farmers called on him to meet them in Nakhon Si Thammarat or Surat Thani. They threatened to lay siege to Nakhon Si Thammarat airport if the provincial governor did not accept their demands.

Mr Kittiratt said he was ready to negotiate with the protesters wherever they wanted but if he went to the South at this particular time it would cause trouble for security authorities.

He denied he was lazy or afraid of being killed should he travel to meet the farmers.

About 7pm, the government assigned Pol Maj Gen Thawat Boonfueng, deputy secretary-general to the prime minister, to fly to Nakhon Si Thammarat to negotiate with protesters. He has scheduled talks with their representatives this morning.

Riot police have been deployed to tighten security at the international airports in Surat Thani and Krabi.

Earlier in the day, more than 20,000 protesters rallied at the Surat Thani Cooperative in Surat Thani's Phunphin district about 2.30pm.

Rubber growers in Rayong block off a section of Sukhumvit Road leading to the downtown area and burn coffins in protest against Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Yukol Limlaemthong. JUMPHOL NIKOMRUK

More than 700 rubber growers from Rayong and neighbouring Chon Buri rallied outside the provincial hall in Rayong's Muang district and blocked off a section of Sukhumvit Road leading to downtown areas.