News: Protesters force closure of Bangkok airport
Flights > News > # 1981 (26/11/2008)
Flights from Bangkok's international airport have been suspended after hundreds of anti-government protesters stormed the building in the Thai capital.
The demonstrators are in full control of Suvarnabhumi airport, leaving at least 3,000 passengers stranded.
Yellow-shirted protestors from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) took over strategic areas of the airport, such as the control tower, on Tuesday.
The protesters, who have been occupying a government compound in the capital, claim the government is corrupt and hostile to the monarchy.
They had hoped to intercept Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat as he returned from an Asia-Pacific summit in Peru, but his flight has been diverted elsewhere.
Now the PAD says it will keep the airport closed until Mr Somchai resigns.
Reports say the authorities have begun evacuating stranded passengers.
Thousands of passengers spent the night sprawled across suitcases, luggage carts and even security conveyor belts.
Airport director Serirat Prasutanon said operations had been "totally shut down" since early on Wednesday, and that 78 outbound and incoming flights had been affected.
Speaking to the Associated Press, he said: "We are trying to negotiate with them to allow outgoing passengers stranded by the protest to fly.
"The incident has damaged Thailand's reputation and its economy beyond repair."
Organisers say the protest is a "final battle" to bring down the government.
The PAD is a loose grouping of royalists, businessmen and the urban middle class opposed to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted from power in 2006.
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