The following is an 8 October 2008 Press Statement from the Thai
Journalists Association (TJA), a founding member of SEAPA:

TJA urges all sides to stop using violence and focus on finding a
peaceful solution to the current crisis.

The Thai Journalists Association (TJA) would like to express grave
concern over the violent incidents and the ensuing injuries and
damages caused by several clashes between policemen who fired tear
gas and the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) demonstrators who
surrounded the Parliament building in the morning of 7 October to
prevent the lawmakers from convening.

The Association believes that the use of violence to disperse the
demonstrators and the demonstrators' equally violent response would
only cause the situation to spin out of control.

TJA urges all sides to stop using violence and instead pause to
review their respective positions in order to look for a peaceful
solution to the on-going political conflict.

The Association is also concerned with the safety of the reporters
in the field given that many of them were injured in this incident.

We appeal to all sides to understand the difficulty facing the
reporters in bringing about the truth to the public and urge
reporters to exercise caution while covering the on-going conflict.