Thai Airports Reopening After PM Ousted by Court

Pro-government demonstrator in front of Administrative court in Bangkok on Tuesday Dec,2.2008....

Pro-government demonstrator in front of Administrative court in Bangkok on Tuesday Dec,2.2008. Hundreds of pro-government demonstrators swarmed around a court building forcing the relocation of judges who will rule on the fate of a Thai government beset by protests and a virtual shutdown of international air links.

(Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo)
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Victorious anti-government protesters lifted their siege of Bangkok's two airports Wednesday while the ousted government's leaders met to decide on a caretaker prime minister to lead the politically chaotic kingdom.

The country's immediate crisis, which virtually severed Thailand's air links to the outside world for a week, appeared to be over and the People's Alliance for Democracy said it was ending six months of daily anti-government protests. But the alliance warned it would be on the streets again if a new government tried to return to its past policies.

A court decision Tuesday forced the country's prime minister from office and disbanded the three top ruling coalition parties. But they quickly were reconstituted under different guises and leaders met Wednesday to choose a caretaker prime minister.

A spokesman for the protest alliance, Parnthep Wonguapan, said protesters at Bangkok's international and domestic airports were ordered to "clean up and pack their belongings" before leaving the two sites Wednesday.

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The first commercial airliner — a flight by the national airline Thai Airways from the resort island of Phuket — was scheduled to land at Suvarnabhumi international airport at 2 p.m. (0700 GMT), said airline spokeswoman Ajcharnaporn na Songhkla.

In what was billed as a hand-over ceremony, Vudhibhandhu Vichairatana, the chairman of the Airports of Thailand, hugged and shook hands with alliance leaders in front of a Buddhist shrine as protesters danced to folk music and trucks loaded with their gear rolled out of the airport.

"We want to clean up the airport before we leave. We want PAD (the alliance) to have a good image," said Bow Piyapat, a souvenir maker, as she wielded her mop around rows of check-in counters at Suvarnabhumi.

But the image of the alliance as well as Thailand in general has taken a bad battering, especially among some 300,000 travelers still stranded by last week's airport takeovers. The months of protests and political uncertainty is also hammering the economy and vital tourism industry.