Thai students mock military at football match in rare show of dissent

Effigies including one in the likeness of Darth Vader is seen as Thai university students participate in a parade lampooning the military junta during a varsity football match at the National stadium in Bangkok on February 13, 2016.-AFP

BANGKOK (AFP) - Thai university students lampooned the military at a football game on Saturday (Feb 13) in a rare act of open defiance against the junta, which has strangled political expression since seizing power two years ago.

In a colourful parade around the Bangkok stadium where crowds gathered to watch a match between two of kingdom's top universities, students brought out elaborate hand-made floats and banners mourning prolonged military rule.