Protesting students get full backing from PAD

The students have been publicly expressing their opposition to the government's plan to relocate the Parliament to the Kiak Kai area, and the PAD has decided to step into the fray and show support by visiting the school today.

Commenting on the move by the antigovernment protesters, Yothinburana School director Manop Nopsirikul said he was going keep the school closed because of possible traffic problems.

"With all those demonstrators around, there will be traffic jams at intersections," he said, adding that makeup classes would be conducted tomorrow.

Manop said a nearby school, that is under the Department of Army Transportation (DAT), would also be closed today. An informed source said the dean of the DAT school had already ordered teachers and students to not talk to the media.

Meanwhile, some 30 students and alumni from Yothinburana School yesterday submitted a letter to Deputy Education Minister Pongsakorn Annopporn demanding that the government suspend its relocation plans.

"The construction for the new Parliament House will cost Bt10 billion. Is this reasonable at a time when country is experiencing an economic downturn?" the letter asks.

In the letter, the students also questioned why the government had failed to hold public hearings on the new Parliament's location.

One of the students said she her complaint was not that she had to travel further to go to school, but that the government was not being transparent.

"If the government is going to take our school away, it should clearly explain why," she said, adding that the students' opposition to the government's decision was not politically motivated.

After meeting with the students, Pongsakorn promised to discuss their concerns and demands with the Cabinet.