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Protesters to leave airports Wednesday after court bans PM

Article published on the 2008-12-02 Latest update 2008-12-02 12:10 TU

Prime Minister Somchai greeting supporters on 27 November. He will step down following Tuesday's court ruling.(Photo: Reuters)

Prime Minister Somchai greeting supporters on 27 November. He will step down following Tuesday's court ruling.
(Photo: Reuters)

Protesters who have taken over Bangkok's two airports will go home Wednesday, said the founding member of the group organising the protests, the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD). This comes after the Constitutional Court convicted Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat of buying votes and banned him from politics for five years after dissolving his party.

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"The People's Alliance for Democracy has agreed to cease protesting after a long-running 192-day campaign," said Sondhi Limthongkul, reading a statement to the press. "We have won a victory and achieved our aims."

All protests will stop as of Wednesday 3 December at 10am local time.

Earlier Tuesday, Thailand’s ruling People Power Party (PPP) said it would regroup under a new name, minutes after the Constitutional Court disolved the party.

"I am sad to hear this devastating ruling which we had no chance to defend," PPP spokesperson Kudeb Saikrajang told the AFP news agency. "But our remaining 216 MPs will move to the Pheu Thai party and bid to open the House to elect a new Prime Minister."

The PPP, which had boycotted the proceedings, accusing the court of making up its mind ahead of time, had earlier set up a new party with a different name, Pheu Thai (For Thais) in anticipation of the verdict.

"As the court decided to dissolve the People Power Party, therefore the leader of the party and party executives must be banned from politics for five years," said Chat Chonlaworn, head of the Constitutional Court’s nine-judge panel. "The court had no other option.”

Prime Minister Somchai accepted the verdict, telling reporters: “My duty is over. I am now an ordinary citizen.”

Somchai is banned from politics along with 36 other top PPP operatives, which prompted the PAD to end its week-long blockade of the capital's airports. They had been calling for the Prime Minister to step down.

Earlier Tuesday, just after midnight, a blast killed one PAD protester and injured 22 others at the domestic Don Mueang Airport, just hours after the protesters ended a sit-in at Government House, the Prime Minister’s Bangkok offices, and redeployed to Suvarnabhumi Airport.

A PAD guard said he saw a man walking on the Don Mueang Tollway right before the explosion, who then sped off in a vehicle, reports The Nation newspaper.

A grenade broke through a window and exploded inside, waking up protesters in panic. One man died on the way to the hospital.

About 350,000 travellers are still stranded in the country, with some getting flights out of a small nearby military airport, or from the island Phucket, a 14-hour bus ride from the capital.

And the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit, which was to be held in the northern city of Chiang Mai on 15-18 December, has been postponed.