Do you know how much a beach "concession" on Patong Beach already cost 15 years ago? Those are not poor people, at least in Phuket those were highly syndicated locals with deep connections and even deeper pockets -- because renting out beach chairs on Patong Beach was better than a money printing machine, raking in literally a million Euros or more (NOT Thai baht!!) a year per concession holder, while basically having no additional investment cost besides the bribes and a few plastic chairs. As in Phuket, I assume that the beach chairs in Pattaya belong to people paying for a concession to some big name. In this case, he might not have paid enough upwards the chain, or is about to be replaced by somebody wanting in on the game, having sent out the police to clean out the competition. A game endlessly repeating itself, literally since the first day I came to Thailand.