Police tell sunbathing tourists to cover up for their own safety

Ayutthaya police told two young foreigners to put on their clothes following a complaint from locals that they were sunbathing in their underwear at a public park on Friday.

Aytthaya’s patrol police  Pol. L/C. Paripat Niamdaeng said he and other two officers had to tell the young tourists at the Princess Mother Memorial Park to cover up because they were putting themselves at risk of sexual assault.

He said the two women got angry and walked away without listening to his explanation that the area was dangerous as it was filled with trees and bushes.

Locals reportedly alerted cops after passersby stopped their motorbikes to check them out as sunbathing at a park is not common and even considered a cultural “Don’t” in Thailand.

The story drew several comments from the trolls readers of Daily News where the story was originally published.

“They’re all like this. They never respect other cultures. They want the world to adopt their custom and just claim ‘freedom’ every time they do something inappropriate,” wrote user Tanapol Seagsuwawirai.

Of course, someone had to pull a victim-blaming card as well.

“This is why they [tourists] get raped so often,” wrote Chakid Pookong, who, of course, does not have a profile photo.  

Meanwhile in the popular forum Pantip, netizens’ focus on the story rather was on a totally different aspect: “How come Westerners are not afraid of the sun?”

“In cold countries, it is rarely sunny, so having dark skin is a symbol of status meaning they have money to travel to a tropical country,” the top comment said.

Well, we’ll leave it at that.



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