Thailand closed all border checkpoints with Cambodia on Thursday. Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said in Bangkok that “no Cambodians are permitted to enter our territory.”
Thai Defense Minister General Thammarak Isarangura na Ayuthaya ordered the closures and all Cambodian “workers and beggars” to be returned, the Associated Press reported.
“I told the police to round them up and dump them at the border,” Thammarak told reporters.
Border crossings at Poipet, Pailin, Koh Kong and O’Smach have been shut and security along the border has been tightened by the Thais, co-Minister of Defense Tea Banh said.
Another four crossings in Battambang province have been closed while Thais return home and Cambodians are ushered back to Cambodia by Thai authorities, according to Battambang Governor Prach Chan.
About 100 Thai construction and casino workers returned to Thailand from Poipet Wednesday night, while 40 Thai tourists passed through the border into Thailand on Thursday, Poipet border official Pich Saran said.
Cambodian vendors at the Long Koeur market in Aranyaprathet, Thailand, returned to Cambodia Thursday morning, and another 2,000 Cambodian vendors were prevented from entering Thailand on Thursday, he said.
“We did not close the border, but it was closed by the Thai side temporarily in order to strengthen their security,” co-Minister of Interior Sar Kheng said.
In December 2001, Thailand closed the border crossing near Preah Vihear temple due to what Thai authorities said was a dispute over Cambodian villagers allegedly polluting a river that led into Thailand. The move effectively cut off all tourism to the temple, as the only road access was from the Thai side. But an effort led by Phnom Penh Governor Chea Sophara to build a road to Preah Vihear temple from inside Cambodia was completed last month.
A celebration of the new road was held at the temple earlier this month.
(Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse)
