According to police, there is no sex trade in the Sukhumvit area of Bangkok where Thai and Filipino transvestites brawled on Monday night.
Pol Maj Gen Withawat Shinkham, commander of the Metropolitan Police Division 5, said on Wednesday that uniformed and plainclothes police had been checking the area and had no evidence of the Filipino transvestites there being involved in prostitution.
The area he referred to is Soi Sukhumvit 11 and its vicinity in Wattana district.
He said police would continue their thorough check on whether there is any sex trade in the area.
The commander denied claims that there were brokers who facilitated the presence of Filipino transvestites and that some police were taking bribes to turn a blind eye to prostitution in the area.
Pol Maj Gen Withawat said two Filipinos were charged with physical assault over the incident on Monday night, and police were hunting down a third. One Thai also faces an assault charge. Police would advise the two sides to settle the case outside court.
Six Thais and one Filipino were injured in the brawl
The six Thai transvestites were first assaulted by 15-20 Filipino transvestites on Soi Sukhumvit 11. Afterwards many Thai transvestites gathered in front of a hotel where Filipino transvestites stay and a Filipino was attacked and injured while being taken out of the hotel to Lumpini police station.
Pol Maj Gen Withawat said it was personal dispute, not racist.
Pol Col Yingyos Suwanno, chief of Lumpini station, said on Wednesday that Filipino people in the area were considered to be tourists and there were no reports of, or accounts by Thai witnesses, of prostitution.
