THAILAND: THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY UNDER HEAVY GUARD WITH OVER 3,000 STUDENTS REPORTED HELD AFTER SUCCESSFUL MILITARY COUP.

Record ID: 308811

  • Title: THAILAND: THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY UNDER HEAVY GUARD WITH OVER 3,000 STUDENTS REPORTED HELD AFTER SUCCESSFUL MILITARY COUP.
  • Date: 9th October 1976
  • Summary: 1. SV PULL BACK TO GV: soldiers guarding Thammasat University main entrance, ZOOM INTO Broken windows. (2 shots) 0.16 2. SV: army vehicles entering university. 0.22 3. SV: Troops through university entrance and patrolling outside. 0.32 4. GV: main university entrance with army vehicles arriving. 0.43 5. SV and SCU PAN: Police car entering university. 0.50 6. SCU: Newspaper headlines in English pledging new constitution soon. 0.54 7. SVs: relatives and friends of arrested students registering with officials and carrying food. (4 shots) 1.31 8. SV EXTERIOR: Buildings where arrested students are held. 1.38 9. SV: woman student prisoners behind bars as people look on. (3 shots) 1.49 Initials RH/PK/DK/0041 EUROVISION SATELLITE TELERECORDING Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 24th October 1976 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BANGKOK AND BANG KEHN, NEAR BANGKOK, THAILAND
  • Country: Thailand
  • Reuters ID: LVA85V1LGKQWQA8VNVWGNHNR8LKF
  • Story Text: Thammasat University was under heavy guard on Saturday (9 October) with over 3,000 students reported held after the successful coup by the military on Wednesday (6 October).

    SYNOPSIS: Thammasat was the focal point for the demonstrations that led to the military takeover which followed clashes between right-wing and left-wing students at the university. Over 3,000 students were arrested after the clashes at Thammasat in which over 40 people died and many hundreds more were injured.

    Before the coup was announced, hundreds of right-wingers had also demonstrated in Bangkok for the expulsion of left-wingers from the Cabinet of Prime Minister , Mr. Seni Pramoj. Its critics said that the Seni civilians administration had sometimes appeared to lean over backwards to please Thailand's new Communist-controlled neighbours -- Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Meanwhile, five policemen were arrested on charges of killing two left-wing activists whose deaths was one of the issues which led to the military coup.

    About 2,000 of the students arrested by the authorities were being held at Bang Khen police training school, 22 kilometres (14 miles) from Bangkok. The police have allowed relatives and friends to bring them food and clothing but first they had to register with the authorities. The students told Reuters correspondents that they were receiving enough to eat and were generally well treated. However, according to Reuters, the numbers were so great, many were unable to lie down to sleep as they did not have enough room in the cramped cells.

    Some women students, being held separately on the first floor, said there were 225 in one cell. The women claimed some of them had been stripped in the fighting at Thammasat University. Others alleged they had been beaten on the campus.
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