Iconsiam guard who slapped student protester resigns

Images of a student protester identified as Benja Apan scuffling with guards Tuesday at the Iconsiam shopping mall in Bangkok. At left, a photo posted by The Ratsadon / Facebook, at right, still image taken from livestream footage of the incident.
Images of a student protester identified as Benja Apan scuffling with guards Tuesday at the Iconsiam shopping mall in Bangkok. At left, a photo posted by The Ratsadon / Facebook, at right, still image taken from livestream footage of the incident.

A security guard resigned yesterday from the luxury riverfront shopping mall where he slapped a university student earlier this week.

The Iconsiam shopping mall last night announced it had finished reviewing the incident in which 21-year-old Thammasat University student Benja Apan was slapped while attempting to stage a protest there. In a statement, the mall said the unidentified man’s actions were a serious violation of its rules and subject to disciplinary action. 

“However, the staff member decided to show responsibility and has resigned from the company with immediate effect,” it said.

Lt.Col Jirot Pamorasut of Pak Khlong San police told Coconuts Bangkok today that the guard, whose name he claimed not to remember, came to the station Tuesday, the day of the incident, to pay a THB1,000 fine for assaulting Benja. He said the case was closed. 

Benja was outside the luxury mall Tuesday with a sign criticising the government’s granting sole domestic vaccine production to a firm owned by the palace. A friend live streaming the incident on social media caught a guard snatching her sign away and then pushing the camera away, followed by the sound of him slapping Benja. 

She and her unidentified associate were taken to the Pak Khlong San Police Station by the security guards, but Jirot said no action was taken as the mall did not press charges.

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