InMedia
In barring Nitirat from organising activities on campus, the administrators of Thammasat University lay themselves open to accusations of violating the spirit of democracy. They may also be accused of bias against the group, because many other activists have been allowed to hold seminars and other political activities in the university's auditorium.
The Thai public has long considered Thammasat to be a symbol of democracy and freedom. Its campus was used by student leaders to mobilise a popular uprising against the dictatorial Thanom-Prapass regime in 1973. Many people died when troops fired on protesters at Ratchadamnoen Avenue on Oct 14, 1973.
Three years later, on Oct 6, 1976, police and soldiers stormed Thammasat and killed scores of students and people who had gathered there to demand justice for three workers found hanged at the gate of their factory. Prior to the raid, an army-run radio station had repeatedly claimed that communists were inside Thammasat to foment violence.
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