Remembering 6 October after 44 years

44 years after the massacre at Thammasat University, Thailand remains under a under a military-backed regime, under an emergency decree and with a monarch who cut his political teeth in the aftermath of this terrible event.

The 6 October 1976 attack on students and supporters by rightist and royalist vigilantes was supported and promoted by elements in the police, military and in the palace. The then king was pleased with the outcome.

Each year we post on this day, remembering those who were murdered, burned alive, raped and beaten. Some of our previous posts: 2018, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009.

This year we link to just a few of the stories that are available:

• Puey Ungphakorn, “Violence and the Military Coup in Thailand.”
• BBC’s Witness story on the October 1976 events.
• Khaosod has a story by the AP photographer Neal Ulevich who captured the iconic images of the royalists and rightists involved in unspeakable acts of cruelty and violence.
• Searching YouTube with “AP archive Thailand 1976” produces video from the time.
• Australia’s ABC reflects on those events.
• Some time ago, the Bangkok Post has had a series on the events and aftermath. This one was particularly interesting.
• A review of Thongchai Winichakul’s Moments of Silence: The Unforgetting of the October 6, 1976, Massacre in Bangkok.