Flights resume at Bangkok airport after protest

ArticleData Array ( [Article] => Array ( [article_id] => 1001381 [headline] => Flights resume at Bangkok airport after protest [abstract] => Airlines have gradually resumed international and domestic flights to and from Bangkok's main airport after protesters ended a blockade, officials said. [keywords] => thailand, airport, anti-government protesters [content] =>

Airlines have gradually resumed international and domestic flights to and from Bangkok's main airport after protesters ended a blockade, with full operations expected tomorrow, officials said.

The first domestic flight, a Thai Airlines service, landed at Suvarnabhumi international airport at about 2.10pm (1810 AEDT) from the southern resort island of Phuket, carrying 307 passengers, airline officials said.

Flag carrier Thai Airways said in a statement that six flights would leave the main Suvarnabhumi international airport on Wednesday and early Thursday, flying to Sydney, New Delhi, Narita, Frankfurt, Seoul and Copenhagen.

The first flight to Sydney was due to leave at 7.50pm (2350 AEDT).

Thai Airways said the passengers would have to check-in at a convention centre east of Bangkok, where temporary desks were set up during the airport blockades.

Vudhibhandhu Vichairatana, chairman of the board of Airports of Thailand (AOT), said that full operations would resume at Suvarnabhumi on Thursday.

"We will try and get everything back to normal as soon as possible," he told reporters at the airport as protesters from the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) packed up their belongings and trickled out.

A Royal Jordanian airline will be the first international flight to land, scheduled to arrive at 3.25pm on Wednesday, AOT said in a statement.
   
Flights had been landing at the Utapao naval base south-east of Bangkok, which has been standing in as the main exit point for travellers, who have also been escaping from Chiang Mai in the north and Phuket.

Regional carrier Bangkok Airways said one of its domestic flights from Samui was due to land at the airport on Wednesday and that it would operate a return service later in the day.
   
It asked passengers to check in at its head office in Bangkok.

Vudhibhandhu said damage from the occupation of the airport by the PAD since November 25 had not yet been estimated.

Hundreds of PAD supporters started leaving the airport in cars, taxis and buses after the 10am time set by PAD leaders for the end of their protests at Suvarnabhumi and other sites.

They gave up their siege of Suvarnabhumi and the smaller Don Mueang domestic airport after a court dissolved the ruling party and forced out the prime minister, one of the key demands of the
PAD.
 

 

[start_date] => 03 December 2008 | 07:13:33 PM [comments_allowed] => 1 [source] => AFP [commentCount] => 0 [video] => [image] => Array ( [caption] => [useRegularImage] => 1 [media_library_id] => 53001 [site_id] => 1 [media_library_group_id] => 0 [media_usage_id] => 0 [filename] => site_1_rand_1899518991_thai_check_in_b_0312_aap.jpg [title] => thai_check_in_B_0312_aap_1899518991 [description] => file:site_1_rand_1899518991_thai_check_in_b_0312_aap.jpg [type] => [height] => 338 [width] => 450 [source] => [video_hi] => [video_lo] => [section] => [display_order] => 0 [create_date] => 2008-12-03 19:21:44 [active] => 1 [media_usage] => Article Large [usageWidth] => 300 [usageHeight] => 225 ) [imagePath] => http://media.sbs.com.au/news/upload_media/ [audio] => [reporter] => [relatedLinks] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [id] => 1001343 [label] => Aussies return after fleeing Thailand [display_order] => 3 [type] => Article ) [1] => Array ( [id] => 1001353 [label] => Thailand - A history of coups [display_order] => 4 [type] => Article ) [2] => Array ( [id] => 1001339 [label] => Protests may be over, but Thai turmoil runs deep [display_order] => 5 [type] => Article ) [4] => Array ( [id] => album-61 [label] => Turmoil in Thailand [display_order] => 6 [type] => Gallery ) [3] => Array ( [id] => 1001314 [label] => Travel advice to Thailand upgraded [display_order] => 6 [type] => Article ) ) [relatedArticles] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [article_id] => 1001353 [headline] => Thailand - A history of coups [abstract] => Only one Thai Prime Minister has ever reached the end of his term without being overthrown.
[content] =>

In the history of Thailand only one Thai Prime Minister has ever reached the end of his term without being overthrown.

1896 – Anglo-French accord guarantees the independence of Thailand despite colonisation of rest of region

1932 – Coup demotes monarchy to titular status. Representative govt and universal suffrage implemented.

1941 – Japan invades Thailand and uses it as base for campaign against Malaya.

1942 – Pro-Japanese puppet govt forced to declare war on Britain and US.

1944 – Puppet-government falls, Thailand repudiates declaration of war on Britain and US

1945 – Exiled King Ananda returns after WWII ends.

1946 – King Ananda assassinated

1947 – Pro-Japanese Phibun Songkhram leads military coup. Army stays in power until 1973.

1960s: Thailand receives US aid and becomes US base in wars in neighbouring Cambodia and Vietnam by providing base and sending some troops of its own.

1973 – Student riots in Bangkok bring about fall of military. Civilian government is freely elected.

1976 – Thailand demands US withdraw its 23,000 troops after Communist triumph in Vietnam and Khmer Rouge fall in Cambodia

October 6, 1976 – Civilian government overthrown in military coup, political parties are banned.

1978 – New constitution promulgated.

1978-1980 – Floods of refugees from Laos and Cambodia live in camps on Cambodian border despite US efforts to disperse them.

1980 – National assembly elects General Prem Tinsulanonda as prime minister. Political parties are given some freedoms.

April 3, 1980 – Attempted coup against Prem government fails.

1983 – Prem gives up military title and heads civilian government following elections.

1986 – Prem is re-elected.

1988 – General Chatichai Choonhaven replaces Prem after elections.

September 9, 1985 – Another coup is crushed by government-loyal troops after ten hours of fighting in Bangkok

February 1991 – 17th coup since 1932 yields junta which declares a state of emergency and abolishes the constitution. Anand Panyarchun becomes PM.

1992 March: General Suchinda Kraprayoon elected in place of Anand, sparking demonstrations so intense he is forced to resign. Anand returns temporarily.
September: Democratic Party head Chuan Leekpai elected PM.

May 1995 – Land-reform scandal causes fall of the government. Thai Nation party leader Banharn Silpa-archa elected PM.

1996 – Barnharn government resigns after accusations of corruption. Chavalit Yongchaiyudh of New Aspiration elected.

1997 – International Monetary Fund assists Thailand through Asian financial crisis. Chuan Leekpai re-instated.

1998 – Chuan forms coalition to get Thailand through economic slump of 3.5 percent after years of growth. Migrant workers sent home in droves.

2001 –     January: Communications tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra of Thais Love Thais wins elections and forms a coalition amid accusations of vote-buying. Middle class crticise his harassment of media and human rights record.
March: Police suspect an attempt on Thaksin’s life when his plane explodes.
April: Thaksin in court for concealing business assets while in power.

2004 – Thaksin fails to quell a Muslim insurgency which kills over 1,700 in the south.

2005 –    February: Thaksin re-elected in landslide and becomes first PM to serve full term and hold majority.
September: Thaksin cancels TV show that criticises him.
November: Presenter of show accuses Thaksin of abuse of power at weekly rallies which draw thousands.

February 2006 — Tens of thousands protest in Bangkok demanding Thaksin's resignation. Thaksin dissolves Parliament and calls snap elections three years early. Opposition refuses to vote.
 
March 2006 — Protesters march on Government House and take over main shopping district to show Thaksin’s rule is damaging economy.
 
April 2006 — Voters show dissatisfaction with Thaksin and opposition boycotts election. Thaksin claims he is victorious with a 57 percent majority. King Bhumibol Adulyadej pressures him to step down and he vows to do so.
 
April-May 2006 — Thaksin takes seven-week break from politics, but schedules a new election despite intensifying legal challenges.

2006 August: Thaksin accuses several army officers of plotting to kill him after police find a car containing bomb-making materials near his house.
 September: Six motorcycle bombs kill three people and wound more than 60 on a busy street highlighting Thaksin's deteriorating control.
 
September: Military launches a coup while Thaksin is in New York at the UN General Assembly and declares martial law.

[content_type_id] => 3 [site_name] => World News Australia [articledate] => 3 December 2008 [articletime] => 3 December 2008 [display_order] => 4 ) [1] => Array ( [article_id] => 1001339 [headline] => Protests may be over, but Thai turmoil runs deep [abstract] => The court ruling forcing Thailand's premier from office appears to have ended crippling protests, but analysts say the kingdom's political problems run deep and will flare up again. [content] =>

The court ruling forcing Thailand's premier from office appears to have ended crippling protests, but analysts say the kingdom's political problems run deep and will flare up again.
  
The Constitutional Court disbanded premier Somchai Wongsawat's majority People Power Party and two of its coalition partners yesterday, a week after anti-government demonstrators shut down Thailand's main airport.

Protesters say they will now end the movement they started seven months ago and lift the airport siege.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political analyst at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, told AFP that the court ruling effectively "eliminated now almost a generation of Thai politicians."

Supporters of the three disbanded parties will also be furious with the verdict, he said, possibly stoking tensions in the kingdom.

The three parties were banned after party executives were stripped of parliamentary seats for vote fraud during elections in December 2007 – the first polls since premier Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted in a 2006 coup.

Thaksin's enemies in the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) have been battling the government since May, accusing it of being his puppet and taking the protests to new heights with the airport blockades.

Rival pro-government protesters have taken to the streets in recent days, and grenade attacks on PAD protest sites by unidentified groups have so far claimed three lives.

The court verdict marks the political demise for Thaksin's brother-in-law Somchai, who quickly said he accepted the ruling, but it will not necessarily bring down the government.

All executives of the dissolved parties are now banned from politics for five years, but there are hundreds of parliamentarians who can continue with their functions, provided the ruling coalition hangs together.

For the government to survive, lawmakers from banned parties who are not executives must move to new shell political parties and then call a parliament session to nominate a new prime minister.
  
This has been tentatively scheduled for early next week.
  
Chris Baker, who has written a number of books on Thai politics, warned that the situation could flare up again if the protesters disapprove of the choice of new premier.

"He would face almost exactly the same problems very quickly," Baker said.

"Then I think the army would move."

Relations between the current government and the military are at an all-time low. The army chief made it clear that he did not want the PAD protesters at the airport forcibly removed for fear of bloodshed.

Protest leaders have already warned that they will quickly reactivate their campaign if they are not happy with the incoming government.

"PAD is ready to take to the streets if people from the Thaksin regime return," the movement's founder Sondhi Limthongkul said in a statement.

Thitinan said earlier that his greatest fear was that the "extremely angry" government supporters would clash with rivals in the PAD.

PAD protests represent a deeper, long-running divide in Thai society between supporters and detractors of Thaksin.

The movement's backers include elements in the military, bureaucracy and the palace, who despised Thaksin because of his popularity with the rural poor.

The divide is also geographical, with Thaksin still wildly popular in the north and northeast, while Bangkok's middle classes and people in the south appear desperate to purge Thailand of his influence.

Giles Ji Ungpakorn, a political analyst also at Chulalongkorn, called Tuesday's ruling a "judicial coup d'etat" and said it showed an increasing willingness for the courts to wade into politics.

"It's not going to solve the problems," he told AFP. "It really shows that the elite are lining up against the government and the majority of the electorate."
 

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