SA KAEO - Cambodian merchants dumped hundreds of kilogrammes of fish on the Thai-Cambodian Friendship bridge on Thursday, closing it to traffic, in a protest against a huge increase in import duty by Thai authorities.
About 100 fish vendors and workers piled more than 400kg of pla chon (snakehead fish) on the road in the centre of the bridge at about 10.20am and blocked all traffic lanes with almost two dozen carts used to carry fish.
The protest came after customs officials at the Khlong Luek checkpoint in Aranyaprathet district raised the import duty on live fish from Cambodia from 300-500 baht per cart to 1,500-2,000 baht. Each cart carries 100-200 kilogrammes of fish.
About 100 goods trucks on both sides of the road were forced to pull over by the blockade. It caused a 3-kilometre long tailback stretching to the Aranyaprathet Municipality 2 Market.
The protesters demanded a return to the old rate. Thai officials insisted they would talk with them only after the road was reopened to traffic.
The vendors agreed and the bridge re-opened about 12.30pm.
Pattanapong sae Lim, the border affairs chief at Aranyaprathet district's customs checkpoint, told Krungthep Turakij Online the increased import duty was necessary because Thai vendors and businesspeople had complained that Cambodian fish was dominating local fish markets and driving prices down.
Officials had been lenient towards the Cambodian merchants and allowed for the old rate until Customs Department director-general Kulit Sombatsiri recently instructed the Aranyaprathet customs checkpoint to strictly implement the new rate policy.
“But the Cambodian merchants did not accept the change and so they gathered to protest,” Mr Pattanapong said.
After the talks, customs officials allowed Cambodian live fish to be transported to Rong Kluea border market and charged at the old rate. The fee was valid for Thursday only to reduce tension between the two sides.
Mr Pattanapong said the import duty for live fish from Cambodia would rise to 12 baht per kilo without exception on Friday.
