Future Forward’s dissolution triggers student rallies

Students gather at a pro-democracy rally against military rule and the Constitutional Court’s ruling to dissolve the progressive opposition Future Forward Party, at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok on February 24, 2020. – A stridently anti-military Thai party was dissolved on February 21 and its key members banned from politics for a decade over a $6 million loan by its billionaire founder, a withering blow to the kingdom’s pro-democracy movement. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)

The dissolution of Future Forward Party has prompted students at at least three major universities in Bangkok to stage political rallies to voice their opposition to what they see as unfair treatment of the country’s young political party.

Hundreds of students of Kasetsart and Chulalongkorn universities staged two simultaneous rallies on their campuses on Monday to protest the Constitutional Court’s decision to disband the party which is hugely popular young people.

“I am not so sure whether the judgment was right or not, but we want to see justice in Thai politics and show that KU students are not inactive,” said a student at the rally at Kasetsart University.

Another student said it had been a long time that Kasetsart students took part in political activities. “We normally see Thammasat or Chulalongkorn students very active in Thai politics, this time it is for us to take action and show where we stand,”  he said.

Earlier over the weekend, students at Thammasat University also gathered to express dissent over the dissolution of the party. “If change does not occur, we will not stop,” one of their posters said.

Another student at Kasetsart University insisted that the rally didn’t mean that students were taking sides. “The main purpose of the movement today is to show that we will not overlook injustice in Thai politics. We do not support or take any side, but we stand for justice and democracy”

During the rally, the students also read out official statements on Future Forward Party’s dissolution issued by the Amnesty International and the US Embassy in Bangkok.

 

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