The 71st Thammasat-Chula football match ended on Saturday with a 5-1 Thammasat victory, marred only by the seizures of a few posters and the arrest of a student activist on a warrant.
Sirawith "Ja New" Seritiwat was pulled from the Thammasat University parade and taken to the Thon Buri train police station for questioning after having failed to report as summoned by police earlier.
Sirawith "Ja New" Seritiwat knew what was coming. (Photo by Apichit Jinakul)
He posted on his "Sirawith Seritiwat" Facebook page earlier that police and soldiers, armed with copies of his arrest warrant, had manned every door at the stadium, ready to arrest him once he entered.
"But I'm not afraid. I'm going to enter," he wrote.
Mr Sirawith was charged with illegal assembly when he took a train to the army-run Rajabhakti Park to "look for corruption" in early December.
Apart from the arrest, the atmosphere was cheerful as students and alumni packed the stadium. The activities included card stunts and the highly anticipated parade of politically themed floats.
Even the plainclothes police and soldiers wore jerseys in the Chula and TU colours.
The organising team of the host Thammasat checked the content of the floats as requested by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).
As the floats entered the field, plainclothes soldiers also asked to see posters and banners that would be used inside.
However, one banner that did manage to slip through read: "What is the reason we have soldiers [in power]? No one dares to ask."
Officers seized banners with the word NCPO on them and made an "adjustment" to a large fake rifle on a float about the constitution, but allowed the students to pass.
The float featured a larger-than-life effigy of the drafting committee chairman alongside a gun pointed at a bloody puppet. "It represents the fact that a constitution that comes from the army will destroy the rights of the people," a student who helped make the float and requested anonymity told AFP.
Thammasat scored three goals in the first half and another one in the second before Chula gained ground with one goal. Thammasat then scored another, securing the 5-1 victory.
The Thammasat team sent on Chanathip "J" Songkrasin, known as "Messi Thailand" after the world-renowned Argentine footballer Lionel Messi, in the second half. Chanathip, a professional footballer, plays for Muangthong United in the Thai Premier League.
