Court ousts Govt; airport protests end

THAILAND: Thai anti-government activists have agreed to end protests that have paralysed Bangkok's airports, after a court stripped Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat of his post and outlawed the ruling party.

The royalist People's Alliance for Democracy movement said it would lift its siege of the airports, and halt a 192-day campaign that has seen off two prime ministers allied to exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra.

The crippling airport blockade left 350,000 passengers stranded in the self-styled "Land of Smiles" and caused massive economic losses to the tourism-dependent kingdom.

"We have won a victory and achieved our aims," media mogul and PAD founder Sondhi Limthongkul said, reading a statement to reporters. "All protests will stop as of December 3 at 10:00 am (0300 GMT)." But he warned that the movement would "take to streets if people from the Thaksin regime return."

Former ruling party members quickly vowed to form another government under a new banner after the toppling of Somchai, who was barred from politics for five years by the Constitutional Court in a vote fraud case.

"My duty is over. I am now an ordinary citizen," Somchai, told reporters in the northern city of Chiang Mai from where he had been governing since the blockade began a week ago.

Somchai, 61, spent less than three months in power, beset by the royalist protesters who accused his government of acting as a proxy for Thaksin and of being hostile to the monarchy.

Under a military constitution adopted after a 2006 coup against then-premier Thaksin, any political party in which a single executive is convicted of vote fraud must be dissolved and all executives banned.

"The court had no other option," constitutional court head judge Chat Chonlaworn said as he read out the verdict, which abolished the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and two coalition partners which won elections last December.

The PAD, who dress in yellow which they say symbolises their devotion to Thailand's much-revered king, are backed by the Bangkok business elite and middle classes, along with elements in the military and the palace. Its protests led to the coup which toppled Thaksin and they took to the streets again in May this year.

Somchai's predecessor, Samak Sundaravej, was forced out in September for receiving payment for a TV cooking show. Thaksin, whose supporters dress in red, is popular with Thailand's rural and urban poor.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej, meanwhile, defied speculation that he might weigh into the crisis, making no mention of politics in a short speech at the annual Trooping the Colour military parade ahead of his birthday on Friday. Hours earlier, the PAD and airport authorities said they had reached an agreement to resume flights from Suvarnabhumi international airport, although there was no mention of the blockade at the Don Mueang domestic airport.

The chairman of the board of Airports of Thailand, Vudhihaandhu Vichairatama, said flights may resume within 24 hours, while a spokesman for the agency said officials would check airport facilities on Wednesday.

BANGKOK, Tuesday, AFP