Articles | Second Bangkok airport shuts

Emergency declared at Thai airports

Published: Thursday, 27 November 2008, 7:31AM

The Thai Prime Minister has declared an emergency at two airports in Bangkok that have been besieged by anti-government protesters.

"The cabinet agreed to use the emergency decree at the two airports to bring the situation back to normal," Deputy Agriculture Minister Thirachai Sankaew said.

But protesters at the airport have refused to end their siege, a spokesman has since said.

Earlier, Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat urged the army to stay in its barracks as rumours of a coup intensified after increasingly violent anti-government protests in Bangkok.

Government spokesman Nattawut Saikuar denied rumours that Mr Somchai planned to sack army chief Anupong Paochina, a day after the general called for a snap election to defuse the country's political crisis.

"Troops should stay in their barracks and the prime minister is not going to sack anybody," Mr Nattawut said.

Earlier, People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protesters forced Bangkok's domestic Don Muang airport to close, defying a court ruling ordering them to cease the airport protests.

Members of the PAD laid siege to the airport, shutting a big domestic hub and effectively severing air links to the city of eight million people.

The blockade by PAD protesters at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport, a major Asian air hub where all flights were cancelled, entered its third day, stranding thousands of tourists in the Thai capital.

All the British tourists trapped at the airport have been moved out of the area, according to a Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman.

At Don Muang airport, PAD leader Somsak Kosaisuk said: "We appreciate this has affected private business, but the cause of the problem is this government. We know this government is nearing its end."

Thailand's military is under pressure to intervene in a political crisis, which is threatening to descend into widespread civil unrest after Mr Somchai rejected calls to quit.

A rival pro-government group has threatened to hit the streets against the PAD, and there have been reports of gunfire during the night near Government House, the prime minister's compound occupied by the PAD since August, but no injuries.

Addressing the nation, Mr Somchai said his government was democratically elected and would continue to work for the "good of the country" despite PAD claims it is the puppet of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.