pattaya on thursday

[Guest]

anybody there who saw what happened???

 

 

 

Suspected English football yobs assault Japanese TV crew

 

 

 

Pepper spray used at notorious Pattaya bar

 

 

 

Wassayos Ngamkham

 

 

 

Suspected English football hooligans hiding out in Pattaya in the run-up to the World Cup launched a pepper-spray attack on a Japanese television crew and a Thai photographer on Thursday night.

 

 

 

Masaomi Karasaki, Tatsuya Yamada and Kazuhuro Umetani of Channel 11 in Tokyo went to Pattaya to follow up reports that English hooligans were gathering there before heading to Japan next week.

 

 

 

Accompanied by a Thai photographer identified only as ``Charumporn'', they attempted to gain access to a pub where English fans were reported to be hanging out, but were refused entry.

 

 

 

While they were shooting footage in an adjacent bar, a group of about six Westerners stormed in, attacking Mr Karasaki and Mr Charumporn with what they believed to be pepper spray.

 

 

 

The assailants then searched the TV crew's vehicle, but left without taking anything.

 

 

 

Mr Karasaki said he managed to capture some of the suspects on a videotape, which he handed over to the Crime Suppression Division yesterday while filing a complaint.

 

 

 

Pol Col Vinai Thongsong, CSD deputy commander, said investigators left for Pattaya last night and would attempt to track down the suspects.

 

 

 

``They're still there,'' he said. ``They're waiting to depart for Japan at the end of the month.''

 

 

 

Authorities had earlier been briefed by their British counterparts about known troublemakers who they had discovered would attempt to avoid Japanese security by flying from Bangkok.