Under army rule once more, Thais recall massacre

By Nopporn Wong-Anan BANGKOK, Oct 6 (Reuters) Former student activists thronged a Thai University today to remember friends killed in a military crackdown 30 years ago and to urge peaceful politics in a country once again under army rule.

Organisers of the memorial, held despite a ban on political activities since a September. 19 coup, said they hoped the memory of the 1976 Thammasat University massacre would ensure Thais never again use violence to resolve political differences.

''We hope the October 6 incident will remind everyone,'' said chief organiser Sanguan Nitayarumphong, a medical student in 1976 and now head an almost-free healthcare scheme initiated by deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

At dawn that day in 1976, police, troops and paramilitary units raided Bangkok's Thammasat University where left-leaning students were camped out to protest against the return of an ousted prime minister.

Students were shot, raped, mutilated, lynched, and burned alive.

The official death toll was 41.

The killings triggered a military coup against the government of Prime Minister Seni Pramoj that evening. The new military junta intimidated student survivors, pushing thousands to the jungle to join a Communist resistance.

Since then, Thailand has had 10 prime ministers, six successful or attempted coups, and one bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, in 1992.

The most recent crisis, which saw the country divided between supporters and opponents of Shinawatra, culminated in the September.

19 bloodless coup which the military said was necessary to avert potential violence in a polarised society.

Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej endorsed the coup, as he did in 1976.

Today's commemoration started at dawn with the recital of poems.

About 100 relatives of the victims held candles and walked around a soccer field surrounded by billboards carrying political messages despite the army-imposed ban.

Mr Thaksin, Thailand's longest serving elected civilian prime minister, was popular in the countryside with his policies of cheap healthcare and loans. But his critics accused the telecoms billionaire of corruption and abuse of power.

''We have been running between the barrel of the gun and the wallet over the past 30 years,'' said Rosana Tositrakul, whose anti-corruption campaign halted the 5 million privatisation of state-run power producer EGAT last year.

Police and troops were not in evidence at the memorial service, neither were former student activists who went on to work for Mr Thaksin.

Thailand's military authorities allowed Thai television crews to film the event but told them not to air any footage which could portray soldiers in a bad image. ''We are allowed by the military to report the event as long as we don't show pictures of the crackdown on that day,'' a television reporter who declined to be identified told Reuters.

REUTERS SHB PM1459