Bankok Airport Seized by Anti-govt protesters

Bangkok: Thai protesters on Wednesday tightened their hold on Bangkok airport, where two people were wounded in a blast and thousands of travellers left stranded by demonstrators vowing to topple the government.

Two grenade attacks elsewhere in the capital deepened the sense of lawlessness after demonstrators stormed the airport on Tuesday night, dramatically stepping up their campaign against Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat.

Suvarnabhumi Airport, a major Southeast Asian hub for millions of passengers, was closed down as guards from the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protest movement sealed off roads to the facility.

Meanwhile, an air traffic control official said that Bangkok’s international airport will remain closed until at least the end of Wednesday.

The Staff had been asked to leave the control tower at Suvarnabhumi Airport because of the closure, said Puttawan Noirod, a spokeswoman for Aeronautical Radio of Thailand, which controls air traffic across the country.

“First Airports of Thailand told us that the airport would be closed until midday but then they informed us that the airport will not operate the rest of the day,” Puttawan told

“I have been informed by Thai Airways that 3,000 passengers are stranded at the terminal now,” airport director Saereerat Prasutanont told AFP, adding that 78 outbound and incoming flights were affected.

“Protesters refused to negotiate with anyone except the Prime minister,” said Saereerat.

Police said 8,000 demonstrators, most wearing yellow clothes in a traditional symbol of loyalty to the revered monarchy, had camped out at the three-billion-dollar airport overnight.

Another 1,500 were moving towards the terminal from Government House, the prime minister’s office in central Bangkok which demonstrators have occupied since August, paralysing the government.

“It’s not fair,” said Vanessa Sloan, 31, from Florida, who arrived at the airport on tuesday night and was supposed to fly on to the northern city of Chiang on Wednesday.

“We spent the night here after all the check-in staff ran away,” she said. “No one is here to help.”

Dejected passengers were camping out near the check-in desks surrounded by trolleys piled high with baggage, a correspondent said.


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