Last week, news reports in Thailand revealed that as many as 10,000 anti-government opponents had registered for the “Run Against Dictatorship” event organised by the Future Forward Party. The event is set to take place this Sunday in the country’s capital city, Bangkok.Thai pro-government supporters have decided that they would stage a rival walk on the same day.

6 October, recently, marked exactly 43 years since the Thammasat University massacre in Thailand back in 1976, an attack by state forces and far-right paramilitaries on student protesters on the campus of Thammasat University and the adjacent Sanam Luang Square in Bangkok. Prior to the massacre, 4,000 to 5,000 students from various universities demonstrated for more than a week against the return of former military dictator Thanom Kittikachorn to Thailand from Singapore.To this day,