Thai protesters storm airport, flights cancelled

THAILAND: Anti-government protesters stormed Bangkok’s main international airport and gunfire broke out on the streets of the Thai capital on Tuesday as a campaign to oust Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat turned violent.

Authorities cancelled all flights out of Suvarnabhumi Airport, hub for Thailand’s lucrative tourist industry, stranding thousands of travellers.

“Our goal is to shut down Suvarnabhumi airport until Somchai quits,” said Parnthep Pourpongpan, a spokesman for the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD).

The PAD movement is demanding that Somchai resign, accusing him of being a puppet of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, his brother-in-law.

It has occupied Government House since August and the government has been run out of Bangkok’s old Don Muang airport.

Worsening bloodshed could provoke another coup only two years after the army overthrew Thaksin. But army chief General Anupong Paochinda said on Tuesday military intervention would not resolve the fundamental political rifts.

Somchai is due to return on Wednesday from an Asia-Pacific summit in Peru but would not land at Suvarnabhumi airport, a government spokesman said.

Thaksin, who was accused of corruption and authoritarianism while in office, is living in exile after skipping bail to avoid corruption charges.

The PAD enjoys the backing of Bangkok’s urban middle classes and elite, while Thaksin and the government largely claim their support from the rural voters and urban poor.

In dramatic scenes on Tuesday, PAD protestors broke through lines of riot police and burst into the airport terminal as startled tourists looked on.

“There are a lot of people with sticks and baseball bats. They looked ready for a fight. We don’t know what’s going on,” Belgian tourist Ben Creemers told Reuters.

Soon after, more than 40 outgoing flights were cancelled although some inbound flights could still land, airport director Sereerat Prasutanont told Channel 3 television.

“We have to suspend our service until negotiations with the protesters reach an agreement,” he said.

Prolonged unrest could seriously damage Thailand’s tourist industry. The airport is the main gateway for the 14.5 million visitors to Thailand each year lured by attractions from its beaches to its notorious sex industry. The airport handles 76 flights an hour and 125,000 passengers a day.

Outside the terminal, thousands of PAD supporters waved flags and portraits of King Bhumibol Adulyadej while others slung razor wire across the access road.

The airport mayhem capped a day that also saw PAD gunmen fire shots at pro-government supporters on a busy road. TPBS showed two PAD security guards shooting from handguns.

The PAD said they were attacked first with planks and stones.

At least 11 people were hurt, a city official said.

The unrest was the worst violence in the campaign since Oct. 7, when two protesters were killed and hundreds hurt in street battles.

Even though a nationwide strike failed to materialise, the unrest could deepen the economic impact of a crisis that has stymied government decision-making and raised fears about the export-driven economy’s ability to cope with a global slump.

The government forecast this week the economy would grow just 4.5 percent this year, its slowest rate in seven years.

However, Thai shares and the baht shrugged off the protests, with the main stock index up 1.5 percent as Asian bourses rose after the U.S. bailout of Citigroup.

Opinion polls show waning support for the PAD, an unelected coalition of royalist businessmen, academics and activists.

Some analysts say its powerful backers in the Bangkok establishment, including Queen Sirikit, are getting cold feet about the damage the strife is inflicting on the economy.

“The people who’ve been backing PAD in the background have got frightened that it’s getting out of control. It’s a threat to public order and even the structure of the state itself,” political analyst Chris Baker said.

BANGKOK, Wednesday, REUTERS