Airport protesters prepare for battle

Published on Thursday 27 November 2008 21:03

PROTESTERS besieging Bangkok's two airports braced themselves for a battle with security forces today, after Thailand's prime minister declared a state of emergency to end a blockade threatening to cripple the economy.

"Security guards" for the People's Alliance of Democracy (PAD) manned blockades of razor wire, crash barriers and plastic bottles on the motorway leading to Suvarnabhumi airport, shut since Tuesday.

The men, armed with sticks and metal bars, checked cars entering the area. There were similar scenes at Don Muang airport, whose closure late on Wednesday severed all air links between the capital city of eight million and the outside world.

In a televised address from the government stronghold of Chiang Mai, the prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat, declared emergency law, saying the export and tourism-driven economy could not take further disruption. He said: "I need to do something to restore peace and order."

A similar declaration in September to dislodge PAD protesters occupying Government House was ignored by the army and, even as the PAD were preparing to repel a police assault, it was not clear when, or even if, one would materialise.

The PAD refused to end their sit-ins, which have forced hundreds of flights to be cancelled, stranding thousands of foreign tourists and grounding millions of dollars of cargo.

"We will use human shields against the police if they try to disperse us," the PAD leader, Suriyasai Katasila, said.

Thailand's three-year-old political crisis has deepened dramatically since the PAD began a "final battle" on Monday to unseat a government that it accuses of being a pawn of the former leader, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup.