A GROUP of Thai pro-government Yellow Shirts whose attempt to uproot a border marker near Ta Moan Touch temple in Oddar Meanchey province was thwarted over the weekend has since backed down, officials said Monday, refuting a local news report that around 1,000 people planned to join the group for another bid to remove the marker.

Defence Ministry spokesman Chhum Socheat said the group of up to 180 Yellow Shirts, led by Thai lawmaker Veera Somkwamkid, had apparently abandoned plans to remove the marker after being intercepted by Thai military and around 50 antigovernment Red Shirt protestors in Surin province on Saturday.

“I did not receive any information that they returned,” he said. “They have disappeared since the weekend.”

Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongphakdi said the border situation was back to normal. “We understand that Mr Veera’s group had wanted to enter the area,” he said, adding that the Yellow Shirts had decided to go elsewhere “following discussions with Thai security forces in the area”.