page_title: Thammasat University
section_title: Bloody October protests
hierarchical_section_title: Thammasat University / History / Bloody October protests
caption_attribution_description: English: Sculpture of the Massacre of 6 October 1976 Memorial at Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand. ไทย: ประติมากรรมรำลึกเหตุการณ์ 6 ตุลา 2519 ภายในมหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์ ท่าพระจันทร์ กรุงเทพฯ ประเทศไทย
context_page_description: Thammasat University is a public research university in Thailand with campuses in Tha Phra Chan area of Phra Nakhon District near the Grand Palace in the heart of Bangkok; in Rangsit, 42 kilometers north of Bangkok; in Pattaya, a resort city on the eastern seaboard of Thailand; and in Lampang Province.
  As of 2019, Thammasat University has over 33,000 students enrolled in 33 faculties, colleges, and institutes and 2,700 academic staff.
  Thammasat is Thailand's second oldest university. Officially established to be the national university of Thailand on 27 June 1934, it was named by its founder, Pridi Banomyong, the University of Moral and Political Sciences. It began as an open university, with 7,094 students studying law and politics in its first year. In 1952, the university's name was shortened to its present one by the military junta of Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram. who became the first rector of the university.
  In 1960, the university ended its free-entry policy and became the first in Thailand to require passing national entrance examinations for admission. Thammasat today offers more than 240 academic programs in 33 different faculties and colleges on four campuses.
context_section_description: In 1973, Thammasat became the centre of the pro-democracy protest movement that led to the bloody uprising on 14 October. A large crowd, led by university students, assembled at Thammasat University to protest the arrest of thirteen pro-democracy student activists. The protest continued for several days before a bloody confrontation took place at the Democracy Monument. When Thailand's military leaders fled into exile, Sanya Dharmasakti, then Thammasat rector, was appointed Prime Minister of Thailand.
  Three years later, the 6 October 1976 massacre took place on the Tha Phra Chan campus. The event began with protests against the return of exiled dictator Thanom Kittikachorn. Violence first appeared on 25 September when two EGAT employees who handed out protest literature in Nakhon Pathom were branded "communists", beaten to death, and their bodies hung from a wall. This led to peaceful protests by labor groups, students, and other activists demanding the expulsion of Thanom.
  On 4 October, students staged a play on the Thammasat campus to dramatize the hanging of the protesters in Nakhon Pathom. Several newspapers printed photographs of the mock hanging with, however, one of the students retouched to resemble Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, an act of lèse-majesté. Uniformed police and enraged right-wing paramilitary groups promptly surrounded Thammasat University. At dawn on 6 October the police and paramilitary groups attacked the protesters. The assault continued for several hours. Newspaper sources reported the number killed as between 43 and 46, but the actual figure may have been over a hundred, with several hundred more injured. Many student protesters escaped by jumping into Chao Phraya River, where they were shot at by the Royal Thai Navy.
  One of the student leaders was Seksan Prasertkul, who wrote the protest song Su mai toi, which was adopted by the 2013-2014 anti-government protesters in Thailand. Seksan is now (2016) a lecturer at Thammasat University.
caption: 6 October Memorial, Tha Phra Chan
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