The memorial had a long and difficult gestation. After the fall
of military rule in 1973, the National Student Council of Thailand
collected 4 million Baht to erect a memorial to the casualties of the
armed repression of the previous days. The new civilian government
put aside a plot of land formerly occupied by the State Lottery
Bureau, which had been set on fire. Following the coup of 6 October
1976, the money collected was confiscated from the student organizations
and the project cancelled. In 1989 a provisional memorial