‘October Heroes’ remembered in a ceremony at Thammasat

People gathered at the university’s Tha Pra Chan campus to make merit and place flowers in honour of those who had lost their lives to the fight against dictatorship, before attending an academic panel at the university. The 44th anniversary of the horrific day is also being commemorated with a “pop-up” museum on campus, displaying vivid images and sounds of the happenings before and during the October 6 crackdown.

Events leading to the massacre began a few weeks before October 6, when the tortured corpses of two electricity officials were found hanging in Nakhon Pathom on September 24. These officials had been protesting against the return of Field Marshall Thanom Kittikachorn, who had been ousted three years earlier.

The following day, student activists issued two demands to the government of MR Seni Pramoj – that Thanom, who was allowed to return to tend to his sick father, be exiled and the murderers of the hanged officials be brought to justice. On September 29, more than 20,000 students gathered in Sanam Luang near the university to air their demands, and on October 4, Seni declared that a group of policemen were behind the hangings.

A bunch of right-wing thugs then showed up in Sanam Luang to intimidate the students, who decided to take refuge in the campus.

On October 5, a Thai newspaper published a photograph of a play the students had put together in protest of the hangings, saying one of the students playing the part of the hanging official bore resemblance to the crown prince.

The performers tried to explain themselves, but by then several right-wing radio stations had started calling the students insurgents.

Tensions finally boiled over when security forces surrounded the campus and started firing through the gates.

The students, though they surrendered, were either killed on the spot or dragged out and lynched in neighbouring Sanam Luang.

Though the official death toll was 46, with 145 injured and 3,094 students arrested, unofficial accounts put the deaths at over a hundred. In comments on social media, prominent red-shirt activist Sombat Boonngamanong likened the Thammasat massacre to the bloodletting 10 years ago, when scores of red-shirt protesters were killed in a crackdown in 2010.

Some democracy supporters say that Thailand is stuck in a loop of the military using its power against people for the sake of the monarchy.