About 50 Muslim women and some 50 Thai Buddhists confront each other on a road in front of the Tambon Napradu police station in Pattani’s Khok Pho district Sunday. The Muslim women blocked the road to demand police release suspected insurgents and the Buddhists turned up to demand the rule of the law.

The Nation

Quote:Muslims, Buddhists stage rival demonstrations in troubled southern Thailand

BANGKOK, Thailand: Muslims and Buddhists staged rival protests Sunday in southern Thailand, as violence in the troubled area continued with three more killings.

In Pattani province, about 60 veiled Muslim women blocked a main road to demand the release of three Muslim men arrested in connection with the theft of a motorcycle, which police suspected was linked to the region's Islamic insurgency, said police Col. Supawat Thapkhiew.

About 150 Buddhists staged a rally about 100 meters (328 feet) away from the Muslim protesters to express their opposition to their blocking the road, he said.

The Muslim protesters dispersed after relatives of the arrested men were allowed to visit them at the military camp where the they were being held, he said.

Drive-by shootings and bombings occur almost daily in Thailand's only three Muslim-majority provinces — Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani — where an Islamic separatist insurgency that flared up in January 2004 has led to the deaths of more than 2,000 people.

Police, soldiers and Muslims viewed as collaborators with the government, along with Buddhist civilians, are targeted by the insurgents. Buddhists have been encouraged to arm themselves for self-defense, raising the prospect of revenge killings and heightened sectarian conflict.

Three Buddhists were shot to death Sunday in attacks by suspected Muslim insurgents in the violence-ravaged region, police said.

Serm Mukmikul, 60, was shot dead in an ambush while riding a motorcycle to a rubber plantation in Narathiwat province, said police Maj. Phattarakorn Sriburin.

In Yala province, Chom Yotsakul, 45, and Udom Rachakaew, 48 — a brother and sister — were shot dead in a mountainous area, also while heading to a rubber plantation, police said. An elementary school in the province was burned down in what was also suspected to be the work of insurgents, police added.

On Saturday night, another Buddhist couple was shot dead in a village in Yala's Betong district, which borders Malaysia, according to police.

International Herald Tribune March 11, 2007

I think the demonstrations could be leading to peace, resembling a willingness to talks with each other.
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