Disruptive Thai Civilians Forced To Fight Pro Muay Thai Boxers As Punishment

The Songkran festival is celebrated in Thailand as the traditional New Year's Day from 13 to 15 April. It coincides with the New Year of many calendars of South and Southeast Asia. The most obvious celebration of Songkran is the throwing of water upon others.

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Thais roam the streets with containers of water or water guns. In addition, many Thais will have small bowls of beige colored talc sold cheaply and mixed with water which is then smeared on the faces and bodies of random passersby as a blessing for the new year.

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Newin Chidchob, chairman of Buriram United football club and influential politician in Buri Ram, told Songkran revellers in front of the i-Mobile Stadium, the home stadium of Buriram United, that he wanted them to enjoy the water festival without getting into a fight.

One local politician was fed up by the inevitable destruction caused by young gang members year after year. So he gave them an ultimatum: at the opening ceremony of the event, he declared, “This time, whoever disrupts the festival will be forced to fight three rounds with a pro Muay Thai fighter.”

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"This Songkran, I want to promise you that there won't be fights. But if anyone of you started a fight, I've prepared a boxing ring and professional Muay Thai boxers for you and you'll have to box for three rounds and you cannot say no," Mr Newin told thousands of people in the crowd.

The Buriram United stadium played host to a Songkran music event. As the football club's owner, Newin considered himself the ultimate guardian of the event, and while launching the festival he warned that security guards would grab any trouble-makers and put them in a boxing ring where professional boxers waited.

On Sunday night, Mr Newin's guards caught five young men who were involved in fights at the fair. They were taken to the boxing ring to exchange blows against professional boxers.

Several hours after the start of the festival five “disturbers of the peace” were seized by event staff. They were then dragged over to a special ring set up in the centre of the event area, whereupon they were forced to go up against professional Muay Thai fighters.

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While this spectacle may have been amusing for some, in reality there is a much darker side to the destruction caused by irresponsible parties.

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The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) yesterday said Buriram Football Club president Newin Chidchob's idea to bring on stage the youngsters, who had reportedly been fist fighting during the club's Songkran celebrations, to fight with professional Muay Thai boxers, was a rights violation.

Five brawling teenagers were dumped in the ring and quickly became virtual punching bags. Video clips were released and the rest is history. Some applauded Newin's "innovative" approach while others branded him a sadist who took the law into his own hands.

Rights activists have stepped in and advised the humiliated teenagers to sue. The pro-Newin camp has hit back, calling for an end to such "pretentiousness". "We are a society so full of 'dramas'," a sports commentator quipped on the radio. "The kids were being hit by people who wore gloves and they weren't harmed anywhere near as much as their victims would have been."