Protesters tighten grip on Bangkok airport

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By Nopporn Wong-Anan

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Anti-government protesters tightened their grip over Bangkok's international airport on Wednesday, causing chaos in the terminal and triggering speculation of imminent intervention by the military.

The leader of the protesters, Sondhi Limthongul, has rejected a government offer of talks to end the airport blockade.

Army chief Anupong Paochinda was due to hold a news conference after meeting security officials and business leaders to discuss the escalating protests by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a spokesman said.

Anupong has insisted many times he will not launch a coup only two years after the military's removal of Thaksin Shinawatra as prime minister, although he has publicly pressed Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat to stand down.

After masked PAD members broke into the control tower at Bangkok's $4 billion (2.6 billion pound) Suvarnabhumi airport, the latest twist in their seizure of the site, a rival pro-government group planned its own street action, raising the prospect of clashes.

"What they have done are terrorist acts," Jatuporn Prompan, a ruling party politician and leader of the anti-PAD Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship, told a news conference.

PAD leader Sondhi defended the airport blockade.

"You must quit first before we sit down and talk with you," he told cheering supporters at the airport, repeating the PAD's demand that Somchai resign.

A series of small bomb blasts wounded several PAD protesters in the airport vicinity on Wednesday, demonstration leaders said, as chaos ruled inside the terminal, with all flights cancelled.

In early trade, the stock market bucked the positive trend in the region, falling two percent to a five-year low as investors feared the airport siege would deepen the economic impact of a three-year political crisis that has paralysed government.

However, it later erased those losses amid speculation Somchai would stand down.

The baht currency was trading at 35.19 to the dollar, after hitting a 21-month low of 35.36 earlier in the day.

Thailand's finance minister has said the protests could have a damaging effect on the economy, which depends on tourism as a key sector and is already vulnerable to global financial turmoil.

The government forecast this week that the economy would grow just 4.5 percent this year, its slowest rate in seven years.

STATE OF EMERGENCY?

Somchai, whom the PAD accuse of being a puppet of Thaksin, his brother-in-law, is due to return from an Asia-Pacific summit in Peru on Wednesday afternoon.

His flight has been rerouted, but his handlers are not revealing his destination, amid Thai media reports that he may declare a state of emergency in Bangkok.

Thousands of passengers slept overnight on benches and luggage carousels at Suvarnabhumi, many annoyed that airport staff fled when the PAD demonstrators, dressed in the movement's yellow shirts, invaded the terminal.

"We came here and we saw all these people in yellow. We thought they were football fans. Now we're just waiting," said a Dutchman who gave his name as Mark.

Thai Airways, the national carrier, said 16 inbound flights had been diverted to Bangkok's old airport Don Muang, 45 kms (30 miles) from Suvarnabhumi, and another three flights to a Vietnam War-era airbase 150 kms southeast of Bangkok.

Most airlines halted service to the Thai capital, a regional hub with 125,000 passengers passing through Suvarnabhumi daily.

Singapore advised its citizens not to visit Thailand.

"I just want to get home for Thanksgiving, but it's not going to happen. We have no idea what's happening here," American Kevin Harris said after arriving for an early morning flight only to find people sleeping all around the terminal.

Police have gone out of their way not to escalate the tension by confronting the PAD, which began a "final push" on Monday to unseat the government, although gunfire broke out on the streets on Tuesday as armed PAD members took on government supporters.

At least 11 people were hurt, officials said, in violent scenes shown on Thai television that are likely to undermine public support for the PAD, which claims the backing of Bangkok's urban middle classes and elite.

Broadly speaking, Thaksin and the government have the support of rural voters and the urban poor.

(Additional reporting by Martin Petty; Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Darren Schuettler and Valerie Lee)

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