The four suspects were allegedly involved in a fight with police officers at a petrol station in Tha Raeng area of Bangkok’s Bang Khen district on Thursday. Witnesses said one of the men was asked not to light a cigarette at the petrol station. When the group confronted the petrol station staff, police were called in. The police snatched the key from their car before a scuffle broke out, according to Now TV.

The four suspects then fled the scene before being intercepted and taken to the police station. While they were detained, a group of about 20 men arrived at the police station and began attacking them.

Relatives of the four men claimed that police hardly intervened in the scene, except for a few military officers who had accompanied the suspects to the station.

Sampan Tamhiran, an uncle of one of the accused, named Sophon, who was severely hurt in the incident, called for fair treatment for his nephew, insisting that he was not a member of the “Yan Wang” gang, as alleged.

Sampan said his son, who was also at the scene from the beginning but did not engage in the scuffle, told him what had happened.

He said he viewed it as just a “normal” scuffle and said that his nephew should not have been charged with serious offences. He said the family was poor and did not have enough money to pay for bail, which was set at Bt400,000. He said he would ask some human rights lawyers for help.

Min Buri Remand Prison commander Somphob Sangkut said the four had not shown any offensive behaviour or disrupted the remand proceedings.

As with other prisoners, they would have their health checked and their criminal records would be produced. It would take around a month for them to adjust to the new environment at the prison, Somphob said.

Corrections Department Chief Kobkiat Kasiwiwat said remand prisons had certain procedures for new prisoners to follow, and he was confident that there would not be a problem for the four men even if they became aggressive.

Police said they still had to interrogate seven witnesses in the case.