The following is an 8 October 2008 Press Statement from the Thai Journalists Association (TJA), a founding member of SEAPA:

TJA urges all sides to stop using violence and focus on finding a peaceful solution to the current crisis.

The Thai Journalists Association (TJA) would like to express grave concern over the violent incidents and the ensuing injuries and damages caused by several clashes between policemen who fired tear gas and the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) demonstrators who surrounded the Parliament building in the morning of 7 October to
prevent the lawmakers from convening.

The Association believes that the use of violence to disperse the demonstrators and the demonstrators' equally violent response would only cause the situation to spin out of control.

TJA urges all sides to stop using violence and instead pause to review their respective positions in order to look for a peaceful solution to the on-going political conflict.

The Association is also concerned with the safety of the reporters in the field given that many of them were injured in this incident.

We appeal to all sides to understand the difficulty facing the reporters in bringing about the truth to the public and urge reporters to exercise caution while covering the on-going conflict.