University rectors 'sided with coup'
A group of 100 Thammasat University alumni yesterday gathered at the university's auditorium to read a statement protesting against two past and present rectors for siding with the 2006 coup.
The group, led by 1968 graduate Sayan Suthamsamai, said Surapol Nittikraipot and his successor Somkit Lertpaithoon failed to uphold the university’s spirit of democracy.
Sayan said Surapol was in support of the coup and had allowed soldiers to deploy inside the university before cracking down on protesters at Rajdamnoen Avenue.
Somkit was a writer of the coup-sponsored charter and made a grave mistake by putting the university’s founder Pridi Banomyong in the same category of coup makers as military dictators like Sarit Thanarat and Thanom Kittikachorn, he said.
He called for the removal of Somkit from the position of university rector.
