for nearly 20 years the area around phu hin rong kla served as a battlefield for thai troops and the communists in 1972 the thai government launched an unsuccessfull major offensive against the plat the cpt camp at phu hin rong kla became especially active after the thai military killed hundreds of students in bangkok during the october 1976 student-worker uprising many students subsequently fled here to join the cpt set ting up a hospital and a school of political and military tactics by 1978 the plat ranks here had swelled to 4000 in 1980 and 1981 the thai armed forces tried again and were able to recapture some parts of cpt territory but the decisive blow to the cpt came in 1982 when the goverment declared an amnesty for all stdents who had joined the communists after 1976 the departure of most of the students broke the spine of the movenment which had become dependent on their membership a final military push in late 1982 resulled in the surrender of the plat and phu hin rong kla was declared a nationnal park in 1984