High school students join wave of anti-government protests

Students in some of Bangkok’s most exclusive private high schools announced yesterday that would hold rallies in solidarity with anti-government protests being staged on college campuses across the nation.

Students at the all-girl Satriwithaya School, located next to Bangkok’s iconic Democracy Monument, were urged on social media to gather at 3pm. Using the hashtag #SWStandsWithDemocracy, the organizers said there would be speeches and raising of the anti-military three finger salute at 4pm, before a marching to join a similar protest at Silpakorn University at 4:30.

Triamudom School also shed its studious, “nerd” image with an announcement by its student activists that a rally would be held at the school’s football field this morning. A popular hashtag used by the students said they “will not bow to dictatorship.”

The announcements mark the entry by high school students into the ongoing wave of protests, which have previously been limited to university students.

The campus rallies initially came in response to the dissolution of the popular Future Forward Party but have since evolved into a public display of dissent against PM Prayut Chan-o-cha’s government.

In what many netizens see as an attempt to discourage students from joining this morning’s protest, Triamudom School’s management released a statement urging students to go home immediately after they receive their exam results today. Non-students will be prohibited from entering the school grounds.

The school cited concerns over coronavirus outbreak and PM2.5 pollution for its measure.

After school management forbid them to rally inside the school ground as planned, a group of Satriwithaya students move their anti-government protest to Democracy Monument. #สวที่อยู่ข้างประชาธิปไตย

Story: https://t.co/o6lxtWbzP5 pic.twitter.com/HwNIYqC3W1

— Khaosod English (@KhaosodEnglish) February 26, 2020

SOURCE: Khaosod English