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Students booted out to make way for new Parliament House

More than 1,000 students yesterday rallied against a parliamentary decision to relocate their school and make way for a new Parliament House.



Students booted out to make way for new Parliament House

Students protest against a plan to relocate their school for the construction of the new Parliament House

The young protesters came from the Yothinburana School in Bangkok's Kiakkai area on the bank of the Chao Phya River.

Commenting on the protest, House Speaker Chai Chidchob said the decision was final.

"There will be no change unless the whole plan gets scrapped," he said.

Meanwhile the students said the relocation would mean more time and money spent travelling to and from school.

"Why didn't you ask for our opinion first?" protest leader Kanrawee Kunapanich said.

Grade10 student Prathana Jaiberkbarn even got tearful when declaring their attachment to the school and demanded to know if relocating Parliament would at all improve the country's situation.

Pratya Manop, president of the school's student union, said they would file a petition with the Administrative Court and His Majesty the King if the relocation went ahead.

"We will fight to the end," he said, adding that he had already been told that he would be barred from graduating because he was leading the protest.

The House speaker told the students that the "study to select the new location had started in 1999" but that he would explain everything later.

Deputy Senate Speaker Nikom Waiyaratphanit said it would probably take two years to vacate and relocate the school. "New buildings must be constructed and made ready to move into first," he explained, adding that Bt1 billion would be allocated for the construction and move. "The new location is not far from the current one," he added.

After being criticised by the students for failing to prevent the relocation, Yothinburana School director Manop Nopsirikul said it was really up to the Education Ministry.

 


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