PomMahakanEvictions

15 AUGUST 2016 - BANGKOK, THAILAND: A family in the Pom Mahakan slum waits to be served eviction notices behind the locked grill of the their home. Final eviction notices were posted today and residents of the slum have been told they must leave the fort by September 3, 2016. The Pom Mahakan community is known for fireworks, fighting cocks and bird cages. Mahakan Fort was built in 1783 during the reign of Siamese King Rama I. It was one of 14 fortresses designed to protect Bangkok from foreign invaders. Only two of the forts are still standing, the others have been torn down. A community developed in the fort when people started building houses and moving into it during the reign of King Rama V (1868-1910). The land was expropriated by Bangkok city government in 1992, but the people living in the fort refused to move. In 2004 courts ruled against the residents and said the city could take the land. PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ

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Filename: EvictionNotices005.jpg
Copyright: © 2016 Jack Kurtz
Image Size: 4608x3456 / 8.7MB; 081516 Bangkok Demolition Eviction Gentrification Mahakan Fort Redevelopment Slum Thailand Urban Renewal ZUMA
Contained in galleries: Thailand (All)

15 AUGUST 2016 - BANGKOK, THAILAND: A family in the Pom Mahakan slum waits to be served eviction notices behind the locked grill of the their home. Final eviction notices were posted today and residents of the slum have been told they must leave the fort by September 3, 2016. The Pom Mahakan community is known for fireworks, fighting cocks and bird cages. Mahakan Fort was built in 1783 during the reign of Siamese King Rama I. It was one of 14 fortresses designed to protect Bangkok from foreign invaders. Only two of the forts are still standing, the others have been torn down. A community developed in the fort when people started building houses and moving into it during the reign of King Rama V (1868-1910). The land was expropriated by Bangkok city government in 1992, but the people living in the fort refused to move. In 2004 courts ruled against the residents and said the city could take the land. PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ