[Bxbhtjnr]

Songkran is a time for celebration, not to dwell on political, economic woes or issues of violence, the nation's leaders say.

Thai people forgot their troubles and put aside their differences yesterday kicking off the Songkran festival with wet and wild water fights across the country.


On tourist-friendly Khao San Road, police caught one of the pervs trying to use Songkran to molest foreign women, and dealt him some rough and mocking justice. The sign reads, "I love to touch girls' boobs."

In Bangkok, governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra marked the start of the Thai New Year festivities by presiding over a merit making ceremony in the morning, giving alms to 185 monks.

Revellers _ Thais and foreign tourists _ joined the water splashing free-for-all in several areas, including Silom Road, Khao San Road, and outside CentralWorld shopping centre.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra went to the North to open the Songkran festival in her hometown, Chiang Mai.

In the morning she joined the public in giving alms to 99 monks.

The prime minister also wished the Thai people a happy Songkran or Thai New Year's Day.

She said the happiness of Thai people would encourage her to continue to work.

She said she hoped that all the bad things and problems besetting the country will soon become things of the past so that a new era could begin with love, forgiveness and unity.

In the afternoon, Ms Yingluck, accompanied by her son Supasek Amornchat, boarded a truck to travel from a hotel to Tha Pae Gate to perform bathing rites for the Phra Buddha Sihing statue. Along the route, revellers splashed her and her son.

The start of the Songkran festival also made a big splash in Hat Yai, in Songkhla. Crowds of Thai and foreign revellers enjoyed water-splashing activities despite high security levels in the area. The festivities provided some light relief as revellers tried to put the recent bomb attack in the downtown area, which killed three people and injured hundreds, behind them.

Hundreds of security officers are patrolling during the festival.

In the southernmost provinces, water splashing festivities also kicked off amid tightened security.

In Narathiwat, people travelled on the backs of pickup trucks, loaded with water-filled plastic barrels roaming the streets soaking others while in Sungai Kolok, bordering Malaysia, both Thai and Malaysian tourists participated in water throwing.

In Yala which was recently rocked by bomb blasts, governor Dejrath Simsiri and Thawee Sodsong, the secretary-general of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre led more than 1,000 Buddhists in giving alms to 130 monks. Residents in downtown areas were out in force throwing water amid tight security patrols.

In Prachin Buri, while crowds of revellers were enjoying water fights on Ratbamrung Road, some teenagers became embroiled in brawls. Some threw a few home-made bombs, resulting in three serious injuries.