Thailand appeared to be lurching towards a bloody showdown as anti-government protestors occupied and shut down Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi international airport
Political strife could devastate Thailand’s tourism industry already battered by financial crisis
HONG KONG: Thailand on Wednesday appeared to be lurching towards a bloody showdown as anti-government protestors occupied and shut down Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi international airport, throwing airline schedules into chaos and leaving thousands of international travellers stranded.
Thai army chief Gen. Anupong Paochinda’s ordered activists of the opposition People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which is pushing for Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat’s resignation, to withdraw from the airport. But the thousands of yellow-shirted activists, who stormed into the airport on Tuesday night and occupied the control tower, resolved to dig in, and dismissed Anupong’s call for the government to step down and order fresh elections as inadequate.
A Thai government spokesman rejected Anupong’s call for fresh elections, pointing to a widening rift between the civilian government and military. Throughout the day, there was intense speculation of a military coup, but Anupong denied any such intervention was imminent.
On the streets of Bangkok, supporters of the government clashed with and hurled grenades at PAD activists in the most serious outbreak of violence in the six-month political standoff. PAD activists also sealed off the approach road to Bangkok’s Utapao airport, where several flights, including those bearing tourists from India, had been diverted.
DNA spoke on the phone to several international travellers stranded at Suvarnabhumi for over 24 hours, in some cases with no information on when they could expect to fly out.
“It’s utter chaos,” said one tourist from Israel. “We have not had any food or any information, and the airlines’ ground staff have completely withdrawn.” But others said the protestors had supplied stranded tourists with food and beverages, and even apologised for the inconvenience.
The airport chaos could inflict broader damage on Thailand’s economy, which grew at its slowest pace in more than three years in the latest quarter because of the political unrest and the global financial crisis.
“We were thinking of having a new investment here but now we will probably do it in China,” said Thierry, a 44-year-old Frenchman, in town to check on his company’s Bangkok factory. “The situation is too unstable.”
The closure of the airport, which handles 700 flights a day and almost 40 million passengers a year, at the start of the peak tourism season is a serious blow to Thailand’s tourism industry and the economy, which is already facing pressure from a global economic slowdown. A bloody showdown, which seems increasingly imminent, would set things back even further for Thailand.
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