Students hold campus flash rallies

Hundreds of students join the flash rally at Kasetsart University on Monday. (Twitter@TapVanutchaporn)
Hundreds of students join the flash rally at Kasetsart University on Monday. (Twitter@TapVanutchaporn)

Pro-democracy students at more universities have turned to campus flash rallies to express their frustration at what they perceive as inequality and injustice.

The flash rallies came after the Constitutional Court dissolved the Future Forward Party over an "irregular" loan. The anti-establishment party won 6.3 million votes in the last election and was highly popular with young voters. Its banned leaders have vowed to continue their campaign outside Parliament. 

On Tuesday evening, activities were held by students at Mahidol University, Silpakorn University (Tha Phra), Chiang Mai University and Maejo University.

On Wednesday, students at Walailak University and Thammasat Lampang campus will follow suit.

Ramkhamhaeng University, Rangsit University and King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang scheduled their activities on Thursday.

Each of these activities has its own colourful hashtag to facilitate online sharing.  

The string of activities followed Saturday’s event where 500 students and people joined a rally at Thammasat University.

At Chulalongkorn on Monday, students led by those from the Faculty of Arts, gathered on campus at 5pm. 

After some speeches, they lit 88 candles — the number of years Thailand has become a democratic country — and sang pro-democracy songs.

At Kasetsart University about the same time on Monday, a large group of students and people gathered to issue a statement. 

In it, they complained about the loss of freedom and about the injustice over the past five years, as well as the appointments by the junta of its cronies to key positions.

They also pledged to join students from other universities when the time was right.

Vocabulary

  • crony: a friend or supporter, especially of someone powerful; a person that somebody spends a lot of time with - เพื่อนสนิท, พวกพ้อง, พรรคพวก
  • democracy (noun): a system of government in which all the people of a country can vote to elect their representatives - การปกครองแบบประชาธิปไตย
  • dissolved: officially ended as a group - ที่ยุบพรรค
  • facilitate: to make it possible or easier for something to happen - ทำให้สะดวกขึ้น
  • flash mob: a sudden gathering of people -
  • follow suit: to do the same thing as someone else - ทำตาม
  • injustice: failure to treat someone fairly and to respect their rights - ความไม่ยุติธรรม
  • junta: a group of military officers that governs a country, usually without having been elected - รัฐบาลทหาร
  • pledge: to make a serious promise to do something - สัญญา
  • vow: to make a formal and serious promise to do something or to promise what you say is true - สาบาน, ปฏิญาณ

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