A Japanese woman who was among many attendees touched inappropriately by security guards at a large Bangkok music festival said today that the guard who searched her was fined THB,1000.
Hitomi Okemoto, who called attention to private security guards grabbing women’s vaginas and sliding bare fingers under their bras to touch their nipples at the 808 Festival said she would file a report with Bang Na police today after they reached out to tell her the unidentified guard was fined.
“Actually police just told me they fine the body guard who touched me,” she said. “This is not good enough. She paid 1000 [baht]. And security company got nothing.”
Okemoto said he was contacted Thursday through the Japanese Embassy by the police, who asked her to file a report.
Hers was among widespread accounts of guards employed by the Security AF Team groping women in the name of an unannounced drugs search without obtaining their consent. Dozens of other attendees said they were touched the same way, with many noting the searches mostly targeted women.
When Okemoto complained to the festival, she was told incorrectly that the guards were police officers.
Search or assault? Thai security grab crotches, stick fingers under bras at ‘808 Festival’
After initially signaling a willingness to address the mass groping of attendees, 808 Festival’s organizers have declined to return calls and messages seeking comment.
Festival organizer Arsit Prachaseri contacted a Coconuts reporter on Tuesday to address the controversy but did not return subsequent calls and messages were not returned.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson and the head of Security AF both insisted the searches were warranted to weed out drugs at the massive EDM event held at BITEC Bang Na.
The security services firm also posted Tuesday on social media that the festival was “fun and exciting … because our visitors’ safety and smiles are our motivation.”
“Because we at AF TEAM are more than guards because we are everything to you,” it wrote.
Thousands of people attended the festival held Friday to Sunday night at BITEC, where they paid about THB4,000 to see international EDM acts such as Armin van Buuren, DJ Snake, Hardwell, Illenium, and Zedd.
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Photo Credit: Pixabay
