If you heard a report that Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt had joined the anti-amnesty campaign, you heard wrong, the minister insists.
About 10,000 students, alumni, academics and staff of Chulalongkorn University rally from their campus to the Bangkok Metropolitan Art and Culture Centre in Pathumwan on Tuesday to show their opposition to the contentious amnesty bill. (Photo by Sithikorn Wongwudthianun)
The man who joined the march at Chulalongkorn University on Tuesday was his twin, the minister clarified in a Facebook post.
Ten thousand students, alumni, academics and staff rallied to show their opposition to the contentious amnesty bill.
University rector Dr Pirom Kamolratanakul said the event was intended to send a strong message to the House of Representatives. The rush to approve the bill could open up opportunities for corruption, he added.
The bill passed the second and third readings in 19 hours spanning Thursday and early Friday morning. It is scheduled to be taken up in the Senate on Monday.
The Chulalongkorn campaigners walked along Phaya Thai Road to the Bangkok Metropolitan Art and Culture Centre in Pathumwan.
One of them was Chanchai Sittipunt, an academic at the Faculty of Medicine, the twin of the transport minister.
"If you see a man who looks like me marching there, it's my elder brother," he said.
Mr Chadchart said he saw nothing wrong with people having different opinions as it was part of democracy. But differences should not lead to hate and a situation when one turns one's back on another, he said, adding that there were several steps to go in the legislative process.
Mr Chadchart is a graduate of the Engineering Faculty of Chulalongkorn University. He said he also received a message on Line to join the anti-amnesty campaign.