Thai protesters intensify siege

Bangkok: Thai protesters forced riot police to abandon a checkpoint yesterday, tightening their grip on the country's main airport in a bid to push the elected government from power.

Around 2,000 People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) supporters forced 150 police to retreat a kilometre north of Suvarnabhumi Airport, but the incident passed without violence.

The protesters are seeking to oust Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, who is running the country from the government's stronghold in the northern city of Chiang Mai.

Somchai imposed emergency rule at the airports two days ago in the latest escalation in the country's three-year-old political crisis. But police commanders on the ground said they would not yet try to evict the PAD by force.

PAD supporters were taking no chances and moved against the police checkpoint, set up to prevent more demonstrators from reaching Suvarnabhumi, which has been closed for four days and stranded thousands of tourists.

PAD protesters deflated the tyres of ambulances and police vehicles at the checkpoint. Several vehicles were left stranded in the middle of the road.

Vigil

At another PAD barricade, youths armed with iron stakes and in police riot helmets, scanned the horizon with binoculars for signs of approaching police or the red shirts of pro-government gangs constantly rumoured to be massing in the distance.

"If they come, we'll not open the door. If they shoot us, we'll shoot them back. We'll die if that makes the country better," PAD leader Sondhi Limthongul told supporters, the most explicit admission yet by the movement that they are armed.

His co-leader, retired general Chamlong Srimuang, said the PAD had not held talks with authorities, but was open to negotiations "with people directly involved in the situation such as Somchai".

Other PAD leaders have rejected talks until Somchai quits, which the prime minister refuses to do.

In a televised address on Friday night, Somchai said the PAD was doing massive damage to the tourism and export-driven economy, but he would avoid violence to end the protests.

"Don't worry. Officials will use gentle measures to deal with them," Somchai said, inviting rights groups and journalists to monitor the imposition of emergency rule at the two airports.

Meanwhile, protesters occupying Thailand's international airport seized a police officer, escalating tensions in a four-day standoff that appeared headed for a violent confrontation yesterday.

The trouble started after about 1,000 demonstrators moved in on a police checkpoint near the Suvarnabhumi international airport, triggering a showdown that ended without violence when officers hastily withdrew.

One policeman remained, however, and Associated Press reporters saw him being grabbed by three protesters, forcibly put in a vehicle, and driven away toward the airport controlled by the demonstrators. It was not immediately known if the officer was still being held.

Hundreds more protesters arrived at the airport overnight, boosting their number to several thousand, and ambulances lined up in anticipation of raids by police.

Stranded: Tourists seek exit

Thousands of tourists stranded in Thailand by political protests that have cut off the capital's airports battled frustration and boredom yesterday as they scrambled to find a way out of the country.

Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi international airport has been closed since late Tuesday and the mostly domestic Don Muang airport since Thursday by protesters who want the government to quit.

"It has been very frustrating," said Ian Fraser, an Australian who was due to return home on Wednesday.

For Dean Gracial, 19, at the end of a half year back-packing trip around South East Asia before he begins university next year, a paid-for stay at the three-star Twin Towers Hotel was a welcome treat. "The only problem is that I have completely run out of money. At least I've scrubbed up and my mum might recognise me when I get back."