The mostly older group praised the military for "rescuing" Thailand from the clutches of Thaksin Shinawatra, while the generation in their 30s and under gathered in the evening to condemn the September 19 coup-makers as "enemies" of democracy.

The older activists held their whole-day event at one site on campus while the younger anti-coup students and activists gathered later behind the Dome building.

"CDR get out", shouted the 200-strong crowd, dressed mostly in black. They were referring to the junta's former name, the Council for Democratic Reform.

Young activists took turns saying that Thailand had had more than enough coups already and that the junta was turning the Armed Forces and the police into relics of the past.

The latest putsch is the 18th since constitutional monarchy was adopted in 1938. Eight constitutions have been ripped up by one military junta after another over the past seven decades with the present regime promising to draft a "permanent" constitution.

"We won't give up. This [Surayud] administration is a puppet of the junta. They have no legitimacy," said Chatchawan Rakchat, a member of anti-coup September 19 network, which has about 200 members. Chatchawan said the group would discuss further action and would not relent until a general election was held.

Students laid out blank banners for participants in the gathering - banned under the junta's rules - to leave their messages on.

"So out of date: no country in the world stages coups any more," read one.

The older activists, many of whom are household names, came to take a brief look at the young protesters and left to attend a commemorative party complete with live music.

Many older activists who opposed Thaksin have been welcoming the coup as inevitable and good for Thai democracy, recognising the coup and interim administration as legitimate.

Young protesters complained that their seniors had abandoned their "democratic principles" in welcoming the junta in the rush to get Thaksin deposed.

"I can't understand why people who used to fight against dictatorship can accept today's dictators and the coup," Uchaen Chiangsaen said. "These people have had their rights taken away before."

One of the 18 student activists detained for two years after the 1976 coup said: "The situation is different today". Now a businessman, he had joined many anti-Thaksin demonstrations. He said the Thaksin regime had been threatening.

Chontira Satyawattana, a former leader of the now defunct Communist Party of Thailand, said in a public lecture to commemorate the October 6 event: "The military seized power back for the country and helped destroy neo-liberalism."

"We're still in danger. The situation has not settled down. Though I'm not for coups, I was relieved when this one took place, and I'm convinced that there will be no bloodshed."

In 1976, 41 students were killed and over 3,000 arrested by the military after they protested against the return of ousted military dictator Thanom Kittikachorn.

Not everyone in the October 1976 generation is for the recent coup, however.

Historian Thanet Aphornsuwan sees a common thread between September 19 and October 6.

"The result is similar: the democratic system is in ruins, but the elite do not care … This is history revisited," Thanet told fellow activists during one of the panel discussions.

"The history of October 6 and that of September 19 both cite violence as a pretext for usurping power. They both claim people are confronting one another and the state must put an end to it."

Subhatra Bhimiprabhas,

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation