Thousands of passengers stranded at Bangkok, Suvarnabhumi airport.The airport protests, involving about 8,000 demonstrators, according to police, are part of a campaign by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a loose alliance of royalists, academics and businessmen, to unseat Somchai, who is expected to return on Wednesday from a summit of Apec leaders in Peru.
Grenade attacks on anti-government protesters have left at least four people injured [EPA] Thai authorities have shut down Bangkok's international airport after a grenade attack injured anti-government protesters occupying the terminal building.
Somchai Wongsawat, the Thai prime minister, Thaksin's brother-in-law,and his cabinet set up
temporary offices at the old airport after the grounds of Government House in central Bangkok
were occupied by protesters in August. Till now, Somchai has rejected calls to step
down as prime minister.
Bangkok was effectively cut off yesterday when its second airport, Don Muang, was closed after
it was stormed by protesters who were also laying siege to the city's main international hub. Don Muang handles only a handful of domestic flights, but it has also served as the prime minister's temporary offices after demonstrators occupied his Government House headquarters compound three months ago.
The blockade of Don Muang was an apparent attempt to stop ministers flying to meet Somchai,
who summoned the cabinet for crisis talks in the northern city of Chiang Mai. The prime
minister's flight was diverted there as he returned from an official trip.
With the closure of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport for a third day, overseas passengers had
little choice but to wait in the hotels provided, hoping for a quick end to the deadlock. The highly organised and well-funded PAD, spearheaded by a business mogul and a former army general, regards the government as a puppet of the former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra,
who was ousted in a September 2006 coup, the 18th since Thailand became a constitutional
monarchy 76 years ago.
Airport officials cancelled all outgoing flights and diverted incoming flights to other
airports on Wednesday, leaving thousands of passengers stranded at Suvarnabhumi airport.
"A battle between the traditional elites who want to return to something like a paternal
democracy and the new middle classes under Thaksin [Shinawatra], the former prime minister,
who really want to open up Thailand and see a global presence for the country." An analysis
And fears are rising that the airport siege will do massive damage to its $15bn tourism
industry still reeling from similar but smaller incidents in August when PAD protesters
occupied the airports at popular beach destinations Krabi and Phuket.
