The massacre of followed a riot in which thousands of students and concerned citizens gathered at Thammasat University and nearby Tham Luang square to protest the return of former military dictator Field Marshall Thanom Kittikachorn to Thailand from Singapore.

This year’s event saw relatives, representatives of political parties and various organisations make merit and lay wreaths and flowers at Thammasat University’s Tha Pra Chan campus near the October 6 sculpture.

The number of casualties in the 1976 event remains disputed, with the official count at 46, along with 67 wounded and 3,000 arrested. Others claim more than 100 died at the hands of the military, police and paramilitary forces after exits were first blocked. Some protesters and others were hanged by ultranationalist counter-protestors.