Military ‘asks’ university not to allow seminar on interim charter

 
Thai military on Friday 'asked for cooperation' from Thammasat University, Bangkok, to stop an academic seminar on the interim charter, held by student activists; however, the university and the event organizers defied the military. 
 
A letter, signed by Col Noppadon Tawrit, Commander of the Kings Guard’s 1st Field Artillery Regiment, to the university rector, states “the seminar may affect the attempts to solve national conflict”, so the university should stop the event in order “to prevent the resurgence of differences in political attitude.”
 
The seminar “Democracy classroom 1: The Interim Constitution of Thailand” was held on Friday afternoon by the League of Liberal Thammasat for Democracy. The two discussants were Pandit Chanrochanakit, political scientist from Ramkhamhaeng University, and Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, Thammasat law academic and a Nitirat member. The seminar, held at the university’s Tha Prachan campus, started about an hour later than schedule.  
 
More than 100 people, including several plainclothes police, attended the event.
 
Before the event started, there were negotiations between the event organizer, representatives of the university and the police. The resolution of the meeting was that the university would not stop the event and that the student group could hold the event at their own risk. 
 
 

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