April 3, 2008
Bangkok - Democrat Party MP Somkiat Pongpaiboon was attacked by the People Power Party (PPP) MP Karun Hosakul after a feisty debate about a recent anti-government gathering.
Karun was so obsessed by the debate that he followed Somkiat into the members' dining room, leaped in the air, and kicked the latter.
"He also said more than 50 impolite words toward me," Somkiat said.
"I didn't fight back. I will let society judge him because society has moral standards," he told reporters.
Karun claimed that Somkiat had heckled him in the dining room.
"I walked up to him (Somkiat) and asked him to explain why he spoke so fiercely in parliament," Karun said. "I was alone there among Democrat MPs. I never had any conflict with Somkiat."
Parliament had been debating whether it was right for Somkiat to have taken part in an anti-government gathering last Friday.
He is one of the founding members of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which led street protests against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in early 2006.
"After the attack, the opposition has agreed to file charges against Karun for assault," Democrat Party spokesman Ong-art Klampaiboon told AFP.
