The Facebook page, Community of Mor Chor this morning posted an urgent announcement calling for a meeting at 9.30am, following yesterday’s large pro-democracy protests in Bangkok. Large groups of students and activists were soon seen gathering at the Strategy Building of the university.
By 10am Vice President of the university, Associate Professor Amnat Yousukh, M.D. called the students into a meeting where a representative of the student group demanded the university take a stand concerning the arrest of Chiang Mai University student activist, Prasit, who was arrested in Bangkok. Students say that the arrest was an abuse of power and ask the university to make a firm stand on the matter.
Following the meeting, a representative of the students told CityNews that the administration of the university had not offered any help, only saying that should students break the law, they must suffer the consequences. Students say that they simply want to know the stance of the administration.
Students say that after evaluating yesterday’s protests, seeing that the government abused its power, they are only going to elevate their protests to another level. There is talk amongst the many protest groups across the country as to what the next steps will be, but they are not yet able to share the information with the public.
The university’s administration came out to reiterate that it had no problems with the students assembling and protesting, as long as they stayed within the confines of the law and the university’s regulations.
At this moment, the students are still assembled at the Strategy Building of the University and say that they will be there all night and open to discuss matters with anyone interested.