The Rector of Pathum-wan Technology Colle-ge yesterday resigned after 500 college students staged a protest and threatened to block busy Rama I Road in front of the college if he refused.

The students wanted Rector Somsak Thongngok to quit for having protected deputy rector for special activities Saranrot Pornpong, who had filed a police complaint against the ex-president of the College Students' Association.

The ex-president alleged that Saranrot had abused her position and been involved in corruption over the construction of a football field last year.

Saranrot said she was innocent.

Bowing to their demand, Somsak went to meet the protesting students at 3.10pm yesterday and signed a letter of resignation, which will take effect when the college board endorses it on June 19.

He said in it that there were many problems that prevented him from delivering "effective administration".

Somsak said that according to ministerial regulations, if the rector resigned his deputies and administrators would also be removed from their current positions.

Around 500 college students started the noisy protest yesterday morning. People in the nearby area alerted police after they heard what they thought were gunshots from the protest. The sounds were actually from giant firecrackers the students had lit.

Saranrot late yesterday told The Nation in a phone interview that she and other teachers had filed a complaint with the police asking the students to justify the corruption allegation over a football field construction project last year.

The deputy rector said she could not believe the students would do this to her "after 30 years of teaching and taking care of them". She revealed that some students on Thursday had even thrown a bomb into a teacher's room that she used.

Saranrot insisted that she was innocent and that the college could prove it, and she asked society to give her justice. The rector's resignation means she loses her post as deputy rector, but she will continue to teach at the college, she said.

At the protest scene, College Students' Association President Pratwong Yaemprawong said the students wanted Somsak to quit because of his protection of Saranrot, who four months ago had charged the ex-president of the College Students' Associa-tion, Sira Phadungpan, with libel.

Pratwong said Sira had on behalf of fellow students submitted a report about abuse of authority to the rector on November 30 last year, requesting an investigation of Saranrot's lack of transparency and possible corruption, including in the case of the football field.

The arrival of the police letter to summon Sira on June 1 caused a previous student protest as they felt Saranrot had overreacted and wanted to publicly humiliate the students. That protest ended when Somsak promised to dismiss Saranrot from her post as deputy rector for student affairs. However, Saran-rot was then appointed deputy rector for special activities. This led to more discontent leading to yesterday's protest to attract media and public attention to the problem.

Meanwhile, Krisanapong Kirtikara, secretary-general of the Higher Education Commis-sion, said the commission had reported the matter to Education Minister Wijit Srisa-an.

At press time last night the remaining protesters, mostly second- to fourth-year students, were still in the college compound demanding that Saranrot quit the college completely.