Mahakan Fort community prevents family relocating

Residents block the entrance of Mahakan Fort to prevent the relocation of two families there on Wednesday. (Photo by Apichart Jinakul)

A majority of the community living at Bangkok's ancient Mahakan Fort on Wednesday prevented two families from voluntarily dismantling their houses and leaving, arguing they were working on a solution to enable them to stay.

The two families earlier told the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) that they would move out on Wednesday and district officials and moving equipment arrived at the two-century-old fort in the morning to help them.

However, leading members of the community managed to stop their relocation pending a solution still being worked out by the parties involved in the dispute. That prompted the two families to report the situation to local police.

About 50 families previously lived within the 5-rai area of the ancient fort. The BMA has a long-standing plan to turn it into a public area but faced strong opposition from the majority of the community and their outside supporters.

Twelve houses have already been dismantled there after the owners volunteered to move.