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Thai protesters storm airport, flights cancelled
Flight operations at Thailand's main international airport were disrupted on Tuesday night after hundreds of anti-government protesters stormed the terminal building.
- Agencies
- Published: 18:47 November 25, 2008
- Image Credit: AP
- Anti-government protesters shout slogans during a massive rally near the temporary Government House at Don Muang airport in Bangkok, Thailand, on Tuesday.
Bangkok: 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.
The terminal invasion capped a dramatic day that also saw PAD protesters firing on pro-government supporters on a major road leading to the old airport to the north of the city.
Footage aired by public broadcaster TPBS showed at least two PAD security guards firing half a dozen rounds from handguns. The PAD said they were attacked first with planks and stones.
At least 11 people were hurt, a city emergency services official said.
There were chaotic scenes at Suvarnabhumi, gateway for the 13 million tourists who visit every year, when protesters broke through lines of hundreds of shield-toting riot police.
Earlier, thousands of PAD members waved plastic hand-clappers, flags and portraits of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, while others slung razor wire across the four-lane access road.
"Our goal is to shut down Suvarnabhumi airport until Somchai quits," PAD spokesman Parnthep Pourpongpan said of the protest, aimed at Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, who returns on Wednesday from an Asia-Pacific summit in Peru.
He would not land at Suvarnabhumi, a spokesman said.
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