Protest blasts wound dozens as Thai tensions risea

THAILAND: Explosions early Sunday at sites occupied by anti-government protesters injured at least 51 people, further raising tensions as police struggle to end a paralysing blockade of Bangkok’s airports.

The attacks came hours after royalist, anti-government demonstrators forced police to abandon a checkpoint at the main Suvarnabhumi airport on the fifth day of a siege that has left tens of thousands of travellers stranded.

Police have so far held off launching an assault on the protesters occupying two Bangkok airports amid fears of a repeat of political violence that left two people dead last month, and concerns that further bloodshed could spark a coup.

In the latest violence, unknown attackers lobbed a grenade near a stage set up for rallies at Government House, the prime minister’s cabinet offices which supporters of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) occupied in August.

A Bangkok emergency services spokesman said 49 people were wounded in that blast, three of them with serious injuries.

“Protesters have returned to their positions, they are not scared,” PAD spokesman Suriyasai Katasila told local Channel Three television.

Hours later, a blast hit outside the small domestic airport Don Mueang, injuring two passers-by. Police had no detail on the cause of the explosion.

Grenade attacks earlier this month at Government House killed two protesters and prompted the PAD to launch what it called its “final battle” against the government last Sunday.

Demonstrators took control of Suvarnabhumi on Tuesday and the smaller Don Mueang domestic airport on Wednesday.

Somchai is now governing from the northern city of Chiang Mai, as his spokesman says he is concerned about tensions with the military in a country that has seen 18 coups since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932.

The PAD accuses Somchai’s government of being a corrupt puppet for exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a putsch in 2006. Thaksin is the current premier’s brother-in-law.

Bangkok, Sunday, AFP