Thai Protesters End Airport Siege as PM Quits

Anti-government protesters who have been blockading Bangkok's main airport for over a week abandoned their checkpoints on Wednesday and started packing up their belongings to head for home, after Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, a target of their campaign, was forced to step down by the courts.

A Reuters reporter said 2,000 yellow-shirted protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) were in and around the departure area of the $4 billion terminal, piling up trucks.

PAD clean-up teams scurried around the area, sweeping up the mess. Around a dozen airport security police could be seen.

The operator of the $4 billion Suvarnabhumi international airport said partial services could resume by midnight (1700 GMT) on Thursday if the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) activists left.

They have blockaded Suvarnabhumi and the older Don Muang domestic airport for a week, demanding Somchai quit because, they said, he was merely a front for
Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by the military in 2006.

No one expects Somchai's departure to provide more than short-term respite to Thailand's long-running political crisis.

Thaksin allies still dominate parliament and are expected to elect a new prime minister from among their number on Dec. 8 --  the third prime minister in as many months.

Cargo flights started to leave Suvarnabhumi on Tuesday but the occupation has dealt an enormous blow to tourism and the export sector, aready reeling from
the global economic crisis.

Weerasak Kowsurat, the outgoing minister for tourism in Somchai's government, estimated around 230,000 foreign tourists remained stranded on Wednesday, but a steady flow of planes was leaving from other airports outside
the capital.

More for the Investor:

• All the Latest Asian Market News
• Get Real-Time, After-Market Dow 30 Stock Quotes
• US Pre-Markets/Futures Data

"If the PAD gives back both airports, this should help speed up the process to get people home even faster," he told Reuters.

"These tourists left stranded should not have to wait for the official reopening of the airport, which is probably going to take another week. At this point, I think, what's important is to get them home as soon as possible," he added.

Rate Cut

Finance Minister Suchart Thada-Thamrongvech said this week the economy would struggle to grow at all next year.

The Bank of Thailand reviews interest rates on Wednesday. Economists had forecast a cut of a quarter of a point to 3.50 percent but many now expect a bigger reduction, given the hit to the economy and confidence from the protests.

Prime Minister Somchai was banned from politics for five years on Tuesday and his People Power Party disbanded for electoral fraud in general elections
last December.

Two other ruling coalition parties suffered the same fate, and party leaders have to step down as ministers as a result.

However, members of these parties have said they would switch to new "shell" parties, already set up, and say the coalition remains solid. It has a comfortable majority in parliament.

Chavarat Charnvirakul, a construction mogul and a deputy prime minister, was named interim leader, an official said.

Some newspapers said Health Minister Chalerm Yubamrung, who has not had to step down, could be elected prime minister next week -- a controversial choice, since he is a hardline former policeman detested by the PAD.

After the court ruling, PAD leader Sondhi Limthongkul said protesters would pull out of Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday they left Government House, the prime minister's office, which they had occupied since August.

Serirat Prasutanond, acting head of Airports of Thailand, said Suvarnabhumi airport's secure areas were clean after a preliminary sweep by police bomb squads.

He said there appeared to be little damage to the departure hall and other public areas of the sprawling terminal, occupied by the protesters since Nov. 25.

Asked when full service would begin at the 125,000 passenger a day airport, he said: "I can't tell you right away. It will take a few days to check systems."

Copyright 2008 Reuters. Click for restrictions.