Thai man walks 30km barefoot to put fish sauce on picture of Cambodia’s Hun Sen

A man who embarked on a 30km (19-mile) protest walk barefoot and splashed fish sauce on a portrait of Cambodia’s Senate leader and former prime minister Hun Sen outside the country’s embassy in Bangkok was briefly detained but later released by Thai police.

Angered by Cambodia’s actions during a recent border clash with Thailand, 69-year-old retired tennis coach Thewa Sritawan walked for almost five hours from his home in Pak Kret, in neighbouring Nonthaburi province, at dawn on Monday to carry out his protest. He carried only a bag containing the portrait and a bottle of the fermented sauce.

“I left at 6am. I was determined to protest Hun Sen’s aggression over our disputed borders,” Thewa told police, as reported by the Taiger news website.

Thewa also hopped on a motor taxi towards the end of his journey and arrived at the Cambodian embassy on Pracha Uthit Road at about 11am. Once there, he laid the portrait on the pavement and doused it with the sauce.

Nam plaa raa, or Thai fermented fish sauce, is an essential seasoning in Thai cooking made by fermenting freshwater fish in salt and rice bran or flour for at least six months to bring about its distinctive taste and smell.

It was that smell which alerted the embassy’s security guards to Thewa’s actions and they quickly intervened to stop him and called the police, according to the Bangkok Post newspaper.