Monday, February 11, 2013

Thai schools breed fraternities of violence...

Yupa Prai-ngam's body lay slumped on her bus seat like a dozing passenger. Around her, forensic police cased the scene, zipping up the corpse of her fellow victim, 21-year-old art student Wanchai Thongsaengkaew, and dragged him away.

Yupa, 48, was returning home to Bangkok's suburbs, when at about 6:20 pm a group of students ambushed the vehicle at a bus stop and opened fire. Police believe the attack was the result of a feud between rival student gangs; in the end, the incident claimed the lives of two innocent passengers.

According to Manit Wongsomboon, deputy commissioner of the city police, there were 1,222 cases of student violence reported in Bangkok and its suburbs in 2012 - a rate of about 100 cases per month. He estimates about 20 of these resulted in death or severe injury.

Most of the clashes take place between students at vocational colleges - academies that train pupils to become machinists, electricians, and other specific trades - who carry on a longstanding tradition of fighting adversaries from rival schools to preserve institutional pride.

But increasingly the fighting is spilling over into society at large. Last month, an altercation between more than 50 vocational students at a charity concert led to rioting and reports of gunshots. The event was shut down early as more than 700 police officers struggled to restore calm. Full story...

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