Bodhi Court, Bangkok

Bodhi Court, Bangkok

The tree has been linked with Thailand's struggle for democracy and the role Thammasat University has played here.

The tree has been linked with Thailand's struggle for democracy and the role Thammasat University has played here. The Bodhi Court is the birthplace of the October 8, 1973 student movement that grew into mass demonstrations for democracy and a new constitution. They protested against the military junta for the release of 13 people that had been arrested for demanding a national charter. The number of protesters swelled to the hundreds of thousands and had to move to the university's football field. This large group of people started to move onto the streets at October 13, 1973. The following day, the government violently suppressed these mass demonstrations, a key event in Thai modern history and the reason why the October 14 Memorial was erected near Khao San Road. On October 4, 1976, the Bodhi Court was the stage of an open-air stage performance that mocked the political culture of that time. When those parodies appeared in newspapers' headlines, the military junta called them 'defamatory to the royal family' and violently attacked the student groups on October 6. In 1991, a military coup d'etat followed and a constitution was drafted that basically maintained the status quo. Students again gathered at the Bodhi Court to protest against the junta. After the 1992 general elections, the opposition of the junta gathered at the Bodhi Court, starting demonstrations that would evolve into more than 200,000 participants. The junta again cracked down in an event known as the Black May Massacre, but eventually all protesters were freed and the junta stepped down in favour of democracy. An important tree, indeed.