Italian students and their chaperones explain their actions and apologise to Ms Sugus (wearing red hat) during talks at Samre police station in Bangkok on Saturday night, where the youngsters apologised and the case was settled. (Screenshot from Thai PBS TV channel)
A dispute between a Thai woman and some noisy Italian students that sparked wide debate has been resolved. after the students apologised and paid fines imposed by police.
Five Italian students met the woman, identified only as “Sugus”, at Samre police station on Saturday night. It followed a viral videoed confrontation on a Bangkok BTS Skytrain that drew intense public attention.
After more than an hour of discussions, the two sides reached a agreement, police said.
The students and their supervisors apologised for their behaviour, acknowledging that their actions had been inappropriate. They also agreed to end the dispute, with Ms Sugus removing all photos and video clips related to the incident from her phone and social media accounts, he said.
Ms Sugus said she accepted the apology after seeing that the students genuinely regretted their actions.
She said her decision to file a police complaint had been intended to protect her rights and dignity, not to prolong the dispute. She also expressed hope that the incident would encourage visitors to Thailand to respect the rights, culture and social norms of Thai people.
Police charged four students with public insult and fined them 1,000 baht each.
A fifth student, who was seen making an obscene hand gesture during the incident, was charged with both public insult and committing an act considered offensive in public. The student was fined a total of 2,000 baht.
The dispute arose from an incident on a BTS train on Friday that was captured on video and widely shared on social media.
The footage showed Ms Sugus confronting a group of Italian teenagers who were talking loudly inside a train carriage. She asked them to lower their voices and told them that such behaviour was inappropriate on public transport in Thailand.
The situation escalated when some members of the group responded with profanity. One student made an obscene hand gesture while another drew criticism online after saying, “Sorry for bringing money to your country.”
The clip quickly went viral, prompting a heated online debate over tourist behaviour, cultural sensitivity and how members of the public should respond to perceived misconduct in shared spaces.
The dispute also triggered what some observers described as an online “witch-hunt”, as Thai social media users attempted to identify the Italian students featured in the viral video.
Vocabulary
confrontation:
: a situation in which people or groups are arguing angrily or are fighting – การเผชิญหน้า
dignity
: respect that other people have for you or that you have for yourself – ศักดิ์ศรี
dispute
: a serious disagreement – ข้อโต้แย้ง
intense (adj)
: very strong and showing a lot of emotion – เข้มข้น
obscene
: connected with sex in a way that most people find offensive – ลามก
offensive
: causing someone to become upset or angry; rude – ซึ่งทำให้ไม่พอใจ,น่ารังเกียจ
witch-hunt
: an attempt to find and punish people who hold opinions that are thought to be unacceptable or dangerous to society
