Redshirts File Complaint After Attack By Anti-Govt Students

Aftermath of the attack

(26 August) The People’s
Radio for Democracy filed a complaint to the police after some of its members were attacked by a
group of vocational students, who joined the People’s Army Against Thaksin’s Regime protest at Lumpini
park.

Ms. Buppha Sirikaew, 68, who was among 4 other people who were injured by the students,
said that her group was travelling from Victory Monument after the protest with the People’s Radio
for Democracy ended.

While waiting at the traffic light near Lumpini Park, a group of
50-70 vocational students emerged from the park and pelted rocks, bottles, and other objects at the
Redshirts convoy.

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According to the police, a CCTV investigation is being conducted and
those who engaged in the incident will be charged for injuring and harming the lives and the properties of
other people.

The students who launched the attack were among several thousand polytechnic students who
swelled the ranks of the the People’s Army against Thaksin’s Regime protest at Lumpini Park. The
group used yellow scarves and yellow headbands to identify themselves.

The students, whose
institution is not yet known, also called for support from other vocational education institutions
to join the protest.

Regarding the incident, Mr. Anusorn Eiamsa-ard, deputy spokesmen of Phue
Thai party, urged the vocational education institution to carefully advise their student about the
protest, and take responsibility in guiding their students to express political preferences in the
appropriate way.

He raised concern that the behaviour of the students who joined the
protest are worrying, and suggests the protest leaders to
ot only think of numbers, but also the
quality of the protestors, too.

Meanwhile, Mr. Pradit Rasitanont, deputy secretary of
Committee of Vocational Education, stated that his organisation accepts the students′ right to join
the protest, as long as the protest remains peaceful and not violating the
Constitution.

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The deputy secretary added that the students must join the protests on their volition and do not claim to represent their colleges. However, he also urged each institution’s director to
communicate with their students, and make sure that the students do not spend their class times to
join the protest.

Vocational students regularly make headlines in Bangkok, due to the rivalry
among different colleges which sometimes turn violent. The rival students have engaged in
fistfights, gunfights, and even bomb attacks in broad daylight. Bystanders have been injured and
killed by such incidents.

Their presence in the anti-government protests comes as a surprise
to many, and it is not yet clear who organised their arrival.