Acid Attack On Foreigners At Asoke Bts Station

[atyclb]

It is well past the time that the Police got serious and cleaned up the street gangs of kids hanging around and making trouble at the Asoke intersection. They know who they are and are allowed to continue to try to extort money from taxi passengers and other motorists.

It is quite easy to see them day or night. They sit under the sky train in the center of the road sniffing glue from plastic bags, and they hide behind the Subway station on the north east corner. They have been there for more than 15 years. At night they sell flowers and shoe shines in Soi Cowboy. They are an organized gang of human traffickers and it is well past time to eliminate them, as they are an eyesore to the whole area known as the Central Business District, and now Acid Attacks on passers by to top it off. Is this the type of P.R that will double tourist arrivals next year? I think not.

Let's put some pressure on Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung and his new police chief to roll some heads in the area between Soi 4 and Asoke. Frankly it is disgraceful. Illegal drugs being sold openly on tables on the sidewalk. Last week I saw three tourist police sitting next to a table full of Viagra and sex toys 100 meters east of Robinson's department store. It may have been their table as there was no one else around.

Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung should put on a hat and glasses and walk alone from Soi 4 to Asoke at about 8:00 pm any day of the week and even he would be shocked at what he would see.

This whole area needs a major cleanup. How about

Why would the police want to lose street rental income?

[TheGhostWithin]

Two things make me wonder from the discussion here.

My best frend, whom I met on my first trip to Thailand when I was 18 years old, works at Nana Plaza. She is the kindest lady I have ever known, and meets me most nights t make sure I go home alone after my drimking nights. People often stare at her friends and I, as we converse in Thaiwhilst eating early morning meals along Sukhumvit - I normally make a point to go and see her before she goes home. Not all bar girls are bad, but rather not as privlidged as others, but crave a better life someday just as much. Everyne is entitled to a dream.

I have other friends, luk krueng and white expats, who have Thai passports and have made their lives very differently to my dearest friend, in Thailand. At heart, their treatment of me is the same and they are no less valuable than each other.

Class is only an issue if you let it enter the equation as is occupation. Perhaps look inside, would you rather carry the burden of a heavy wallet, or the advantage of good judgement? If someone is racist, walk away.

A year ago I was attacked on Suk soi 4 as i walked to see me friend, stopping for medicine at 711 for a sore throat I had. Why was I attacked? I was farang, and refusing her made her lose her face, so she said. When i spoke to her in thai, she told me she was hmong, and that if I spoke thai, I knew nit to cross her because she would have the Hmong Mafia make me dissapear. All whilst the stall owners watched her physically attack me and I blocked her punches and kicks . A taxi driver saved me, as she punched me... I don't hit women. Racism in thailand exists, as it does where we all come from. Learn to read it, and it won't be an issue?

Police in Asoke are an interesting bunch, they pulled my gf of 3 years over as we came home fromd the restaurant dinner along sukhumvit in the taxi, accusing my very well dressed girlfriend (in a long dress) of working... when I explained in thai that she was my girlfriend if 2 years, and they could ask her father who is an officer, they backed off a little surprised and realising I was not a sex tourist. Maybe the Asoke Police could do better things with their time...

[FM505]

This is based on one post from someone's Twitter page, and it is news? Should it not be a little more substantiated than this to be put on the Bangkok Post web site?

Its an alert son... with your safety in mind.

[pomozki]

Did she make a police report???????

Why the hysterical question marks? Attempting to fill out a report and get the police interested is often a complete waste of time. I can vouch for that.

[BigC]

sounds like a vengance attack there are many forang in bangkok. sounds strange that they attack 2 people that r related.

if there r never catch then we may never know ?

[dancw3]

3 tweets, none of them seem to have an agenda, for once in your lives people, accept that everything is not rosy in Thailand and things do happen, no need to be politically correct and say it also happens to Thais when there is no proof of this, in this instance it has happened to two westerners so lets just accept that it has happened to 2 westerners without assuming that it also happened to thais.

the tweets are

Ebriel Elizabeth Briel .@andrewhurd @LilMsEditor @Cambodonut @bm_ @legalnomads Random attack near BTS Asoke, just at us.We're up in a few hrs 4 the doctors-'night! 12 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply » Ebriel Elizabeth Briel @ @bkkjase Asoke, s/o sprayed us from BTS steps near Robinson. My husband lost the conjunctuva in his eyes, will be ok.I've just a burnt scalp 12 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply » Ebriel Elizabeth Briel We were attacked in #Bangkok tonight - someone sprayed acid -or bleach- at our faces. @BumrungradH says this is the 3rd they've seen lately.

What's political correctness got to do with it? Every time something bad happens to a farang, the whole crew of chronic malcontents starts complaining about Thais, the police etc. With such bad attitudes, no wonder they're unhappy. I remember the Swede getting killed in Pattaya. The same crew was complaining about how bad Thais are to farangs, how incompetient the police are etc. A day later the police had caught the killers and they were two Swedes. Yes the other cases could have been attacks on farangs. Then again maybe the attacker is a farang for all we know. And in any case crimes like this happen everywhere, not just in Thailand. But my guess is the other acid attacks were not on farangs, since we heard nothing about them until this attack. Attacks on farangs get a lot more attention in the press and on line.

[thaigold]

Al I can say is; don't run out of gas on Long Beach freeway in LA, going to San Pedro and Long Beach. You'd have better luck trying to hitch a ride outside of Auschwitz, in 1944. Or better yet, try the New York Metro (after 9 in the evening). Scary.

[richard_smith237]

Some of the negative and positive sweeping generalizations are ridiculous...

Some of the people who have written that Thai's hate us must not have met many Thai's.

Some of the people who have written that Thai's are kind lovely people must not have met many Thai's.

People in Thailand, like the populace of any other nationality range from those ignorant idiots who society should be despising up to gracious and respectful people who set an example to us all.

I really don't understand those who think that Thailand is or should be any different from their homes...

My point is: YES - some Thai's are absolute idiots, not all are though. In fact just like our own countries most are not. The actions of a few should not tarnish the reputation of the many.

Regarding the Op: I am uncertain of the whether the acid attack is racist or not. It could simply be idiots spraying acid from the bridge onto anyone. Alternatively it could be a handful of idiots targeting westerners.

The frequent interaction I have experienced over the years leads me to believe that Thai's are not racist towards foreigners, however treatment of a foreigner will vary and is dependent on a large number of factors.

The observation I have made is that within Thailand Thai's also experience this varying level of treatment which is dependent on many factors. For Foreigners when the language barrier is removed levels of treatment from the Thai's is not really much different from the way they treat each other.

This leads me to conclude that most issues Westerners experience in Thailand is simply due to miscommunication and misunderstanding.

[Maestro]

I have deleted some nonsensical posts and the replies to them (a wagonload of troll fodder)

[JAG]

There are some 65 million odd Thais in Thailand. There are about the same number of Brits in the UK. Of those ( the Brits) most probably don't care about foreigners either way, and a small but significant number don't like them. Don't like covers the spectrum from casual abuse to the hatred and violence of the knuckle dragging racists who crawl out from under various stones when disturbed. I expect that the same is true of the Thais.

[SteeleJoe]

Some of the negative and positive sweeping generalizations are ridiculous...

Some of the people who have written that Thai's hate us must not have met many Thai's.

Some of the people who have written that Thai's are kind lovely people must not have met many Thai's.

People in Thailand, like the populace of any other nationality range from those ignorant idiots who society should be despising up to gracious and respectful people who set an example to us all.

I really don't understand those who think that Thailand is or should be any different from their homes...

My point is: YES - some Thai's are absolute idiots, not all are though. In fact just like our own countries most are not. The actions of a few should not tarnish the reputation of the many.

Regarding the Op: I am uncertain of the whether the acid attack is racist or not. It could simply be idiots spraying acid from the bridge onto anyone. Alternatively it could be a handful of idiots targeting westerners.

The frequent interaction I have experienced over the years leads me to believe that Thai's are not racist towards foreigners, however treatment of a foreigner will vary and is dependent on a large number of factors.

The observation I have made is that within Thailand Thai's also experience this varying level of treatment which is dependent on many factors. For Foreigners when the language barrier is removed levels of treatment from the Thai's is not really much different from the way they treat each other.

This leads me to conclude that most issues Westerners experience in Thailand is simply due to miscommunication and misunderstanding.

Truth. Well done.

Been here nearly three decades and have had an extremely wide range of acquaintances and experiences; I have little patience and a certain amount of contempt for the people who refuse to see anything wrong with Thailand or its people but people who write things like 'all Thais hate us and are taught to from birrth' are just really ignorant and truly twisted. I've seen the dark side here. Life and death stuff. And I've experienced kindness and compassion almost beyond my capacity to believe even years later. Anyone who only sees the bad parts and only among the most extreme forms of the bad parts -- there's something going on with that person that is well f*^ked up..

[maidu]

Did she make a police report???????

Making a police report at a Thai police station is one of the most annoying things known to man or beast.

I've done it twice, 12 years apart, for two different episodes of having things stolen. Minimum time in the station: 3 hours. Anyone who comes along after you start the process, will be dealt with before you. The concept of a queue is foreign to Thai officialdom. The questions asked are usually not related to the crime or suspects. It's slow slow slow, almost as if they want to give ample time to the thief to get far away And best of all - absolutely nothing positive comes of it. It's basically a colossal waste of time.

[AngelofDeath]

The victims said that they were sprayed by acid. It seems to rule out the possiblity that the acid falls onto them. If someone sprayed them with acid, there ought to have somebody who will stop the attacker?

[IMA_FARANG]

Did she make a police report???????

Making a police report at a Thai police station is one of the most annoying things known to man or beast.

I've done it twice, 12 years apart, for two different episodes of having things stolen. Minimum time in the station: 3 hours. Anyone who comes along after you start the process, will be dealt with before you. The concept of a queue is foreign to Thai officialdom. The questions asked are usually not related to the crime or suspects. It's slow slow slow, almost as if they want to give ample time to the thief to get far away And best of all - absolutely nothing positive comes of it. It's basically a colossal waste of time.

------------------------

Not my experience when I lost my passport, air ticket, and 500 dollars in U.S. cash years ago. Made a report at the Thong Lor police station, and the whole thing would have been finished at 30 minutes. The only thing that stopped it was that the Taxi driver whose taxi I had left it in brought it into the very same police station to return everything to me.

Seems he found it in an evelope I left on the rear seat of his taxi. He went to the guesthouse where he had dropped ne off. The guesthouse owner, who knew me, told the taxi driver I had gone to the police station to report the loss of my passport. So the taxi driver came to the police station, and delivered the envelope to me. I was just reviewing the police report...writen in English and ready to sign it when the taxi driver walked in. So the report never was filed.

Total time from when I entered the police station until I was about to sign the typed report was not more than 30 miutes.

-------------------------

[tominbkk]

I've done it twice, 12 years apart, for two different episodes of having things stolen. Minimum time in the station: 3 hours. mes of it. It's basically a colossal waste of time.

------------------------

Not my experience when I lost my passport, air ticket, and 500 dollars in U.S. cash years ago. Made a report at the Thong Lor police station, and the whole thing would have been finished at 30 minutes. The only thing that stopped it was that the Taxi driver whose taxi I had left it in brought it into the very same police station to return everything to me.

-------------------------

Same experience at TL station....friendly and polite staff, one of the older female polis flirting with me even. It was funny and harmless,and they had me out of there in no time.

[Nisa]

The victims said that they were sprayed by acid. It seems to rule out the possiblity that the acid falls onto them. If someone sprayed them with acid, there ought to have somebody who will stop the attacker?

or seen it

[Richard4849]

The victims said that they were sprayed by acid. It seems to rule out the possiblity that the acid falls onto them. If someone sprayed them with acid, there ought to have somebody who will stop the attacker?

They also would have seen the attacker...unless they had a delivery mechanism that would allow them to isolate and spray a particular couple from a secret hiding place.

The whole thing smells fishy.

[HeavyDrinker]

Richard Smith = The Voice of Reason!

Well said sir!

[creck]

Most of my close friends are Thai. I find them the most generous, gracious and kind people with no bias against foreigners. I guess you don't mix with the same class of Thais that I do. How many close Thai friends do you have?

I have a good friend that was married for 18 years to a woman he obviously thought he knew. One night the sherrif arrived at his house around midnight and kicked him out. His wife had lied and claimed he beat her, and immediately started divorce proceedings. Several years later this poor bloke learned that his wife had told several friends that she was marrying this guy only until her extremely wealthy (as in million$) mother died. This was BEFORE she married him. He had no clue whatsoever, and though that their love was perfect. After waiting almost twenty years, she finally took matters into her own hands and suffocated her ninety-some year old mother. Two months later, she kicked herjhusband out and tried to get him jailed in order to avoid having to share the inheritance. In all that time nobody warned the poor jerk because they were all told a running stream of stories by the wife how bad he was to her, and so they all felt the bastard had it coming. Only years later, after the smoke finally cleared, and the ex-wife started showing her true colors did the reports slowly filter in to the husband.

The moral of the story: Just because you live with someone for decades doesn't mean you know their heart. Just because a person smiles at you and says nice things, it doesn't mean that they don't have some deep resentments against you.

I, too, believe I have wonderful, sincere Thai friends. But every once in a while something will happen that does show a somewhat "confused" attitude towards farang. Well, maybe schitzophrenic is a better word. On the one hand they often attribute almost superhuman powers to the farang, and other times they seem to feel utterly superiour and contemptuous. Most of the time, however, they seem like the nicest people in the world.

Me, I'd be afraid to make an announcement about what is going on in someone else's heart, especially someone from such a different culture and socioeconomic background.

I think this story shows that some women are never sincere. Maybe some men are similar. The important fact seems to be that he was rich enough. It could have been any nationality involved on either side. Just happened to have rather more possibility here in Thailand, that she was Thai and he foreign.

[TechnikaIII]

In 18 years I have had the crap kicked out of me 5 times out of those 5, I was robbed twice once by the attackers and once from the guys who came in the rescue truck to take me to hospital 3 of the attacks happened in Phuket for no reason, I was only ever robbed in Phuket, the other two in Bkk where one local hit me because they were drunk and didn't like foreigners, I hit back and knocked both out but was then kicked down the road by a pack of locals who saw it.

Remember never retaliate against a local unless there are no local witnesess and don't go out drinking after hours because if you try to make a police report saying you just walked out of xxxx bar at 3am and try to make a police report the police will tell you, you are lying because all the bars close at 1am by law.

The police in Phuket did find two of my stolen mobile phones though I will credit them for that. but generally it's like the gambling den opposite my house impossible to report about.

What a loser !

In 2029, he'll be here (maybe) .. saying: "In 36 years I have had the crap kicked out of me 10 times .... etc etc.

[anon8]

The only criteria for "newsworthy events" is that they generate more foaming at the mouth by the Thai Bashers, Police Bashers and Little-Old-Ladies-of-Fair-Complexions-Contingent.

If after reading an article you can grunt:" ummm Thai bad, farang good," then it's passed the editorial scrutiny hurdle.

Being sprayed with acid in the middle of Bangkok is newsworthy event, i fail to see the need for your use of quotation marks, Suradit. You seem to imply that spraying acid on a persons face is perfectly OK in BKK, and maybe even a traditional Thai greeting

You realize acid is not water, right? You realize being sprayed with acid can kill a person, or at the very least disfigure a person for life? You DO know what acid is, I assume.. yet you seem to suggest it was a minor incident, not even worth reporting.

You consider news report about splashing acid on a persons face Thai bashing, Suradit?

Edited September 16, 2011 by valgehiir

[Richard4849]

The only criteria for "newsworthy events" is that they generate more foaming at the mouth by the Thai Bashers, Police Bashers and Little-Old-Ladies-of-Fair-Complexions-Contingent.

If after reading an article you can grunt:" ummm Thai bad, farang good," then it's passed the editorial scrutiny hurdle.

Being sprayed with acid in the middle of Bangkok is newsworthy event, i fail to see the need for your use of quotation marks, Suradit. You seem to imply that spraying acid on a persons face is perfectly OK in BKK, and maybe even a traditional Thai greeting

You realize acid is not water, right? You realize being sprayed with acid can kill a person, or at the very least disfigure a person for life? You DO know what acid is, I assume.. yet you seem to suggest it was a minor incident, not even worth reporting.

You consider news report about splashing acid on a persons face Thai bashing, Suradit?

With the degree of detail here, I'd hardly call it a "news story".

[janverbeem]

In 18 years I have had the crap kicked out of me 5 times out of those 5, I was robbed twice once by the attackers and once from the guys who came in the rescue truck to take me to hospital 3 of the attacks happened in Phuket for no reason, I was only ever robbed in Phuket, the other two in Bkk where one local hit me because they were drunk and didn't like foreigners, I hit back and knocked both out but was then kicked down the road by a pack of locals who saw it.

Remember never retaliate against a local unless there are no local witnesess and don't go out drinking after hours because if you try to make a police report saying you just walked out of xxxx bar at 3am and try to make a police report the police will tell you, you are lying because all the bars close at 1am by law.

The police in Phuket did find two of my stolen mobile phones though I will credit them for that. but generally it's like the gambling den opposite my house impossible to report about.

In 17 years here I have never had the crap kicked out of me,in fact I didn't have it happen for no reason in the past 53 years.

[Jingthing]

I will go further. If it is really true that LOTS of people are getting randomly sprayed with ACID on the streets of Bangkok, not only is it news, it should be leading news all over the world. Take that, TAT.

[DP25]

The only criteria for "newsworthy events" is that they generate more foaming at the mouth by the Thai Bashers, Police Bashers and Little-Old-Ladies-of-Fair-Complexions-Contingent.

If after reading an article you can grunt:" ummm Thai bad, farang good," then it's passed the editorial scrutiny hurdle.

Being sprayed with acid in the middle of Bangkok is newsworthy event, i fail to see the need for your use of quotation marks, Suradit. You seem to imply that spraying acid on a persons face is perfectly OK in BKK, and maybe even a traditional Thai greeting

You realize acid is not water, right? You realize being sprayed with acid can kill a person, or at the very least disfigure a person for life? You DO know what acid is, I assume.. yet you seem to suggest it was a minor incident, not even worth reporting.

You consider news report about splashing acid on a persons face Thai bashing, Suradit?

Based on her story there is no reason to believe that an acid attack actually occurred. I mean, cleaning fluid or construction spill fell on to someone below causing light non permanent injury, or secret unseen gunman 30 feet or more in the air deliberately hit a moving target specifically in the eyes with a squirt gun filled with acid. A blast so quick and accurate that hit it hit exactly where it was aimed (the eyes of a far away moving person) and left no trace before or after to warn or lead back to the shooter. She is basing her conclusion 'This was no accident' on absolutely nothing

[Nisa]

Maybe it was simply acid rain

[Richard4849]

Maybe they walked past a street vendor stir-frying some krapow moo...

[Deez]

This is based on one post from someone's Twitter page, and it is news? Should it not be a little more substantiated than this to be put on the Bangkok Post web site?

The only criteria for "newsworthy events" is that they generate more foaming at the mouth by the Thai Bashers, Police Bashers and Little-Old-Ladies-of-Fair-Complexions-Contingent.

If after reading an article you can grunt:" ummm Thai bad, farang good," then it's passed the editorial scrutiny hurdle.

Maybe someone will throw acid in your face and we can see what you grunt. Maybe that would be newsworthy enough for you.

[Beetlejuice]

This is nothing but hearsay.

Until I read this from an official source, then I`m filing this under, C, for crap.

[Jingthing]

This is nothing but hearsay.

Until I read this from an official source, then I`m filing this under, C, for crap.

They were treated at a famous hospital for ACID burns. More than hearsay.