The head chef of Tokyo Sushi in Reykjavik, Ari Alexander Guðjónsson, told Thai Senator Porntip Rojanasunan to leave the restaurant. In a video posted on social media, Ari tells the Senator to leave the premises because she isn’t welcome.
The senator was visiting Reykjavik with a group of friends on September 21-30. Her reason for going was to see the Aurora Borealis (northern lights).
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The man had a Facebook account called “Ari Alexander”, which is currently shut down. According to the account, Ari was born in Uthaithani in Thailand but later grew up in Iceland and that he is the head chef of the Sushi place where the incident occurred.
In the video that went viral on social media, Ari does not give a reason for wanting Porntip to leave the place. He only states that she has damaged Thailand and adds, that he does not want any Senators in his restaurant.
“You do not belong here, get out of my restaurant,” he said in English.
According to icelandic news site Visir, Ari said “No comments” when asked to elaborate on the episode. Visir did not mention why the Thai senator was in Iceland but according to the news site she was there with a fairly large group.
A capture of the video is shown on the icelandic news site Visir below.
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Porntip was about to walk away when she asked the man to be calm and speak nicely. He however answered, “everybody in the group is welcome, but not that woman.” The group then walked away.
It is believed that the episode happened because Porntip has stated that she is opposed the Move Forward party’s campaign to review Thailand’s lèse majesté laws. She later abstained from voting in support for Move Forward’s former leader, Pita Limjaroenrat, to be Thailand’s prime minister.
Porntip herself did not mentioned the incident on Facebook. On her last day in Iceland, she wrote on her Facebook account:
“My mission is complete as I saw the northern lights from my hotel.”
Back in Bangkok, she has commented on the incident as reported by Bangkok Post saying she had no intention of taking any legal actions over the incident.
Source: visir.is
