ASIA: Protest blasts wound dozens as Thai tensions rise
30 Nov 2008 4:15 PM
EDS: Adds more blasts, updates injury toll
BANGKOK, Nov 30 Agencies - At least 51 anti-government protesters were wounded in several explosions early Sunday, raising fears of widening confrontations in a standoff that has strangled Thailand's economy and shut down its airports.
The attacks came hours after royalist, anti-government demonstrators forced police to abandon a checkpoint at the main Suvarnabhumi airport on the fifth day of a siege that has left tens of thousands of travellers stranded.
Meanwhile, Qantas and the Australian government are in talks to rescue hundreds of Australians caught in the siege at Suvarnabhumi.
Police have so far held off launching an assault on the protesters occupying two Bangkok airports amid fears of a repeat of political violence that left two people dead last month, and concerns that further bloodshed could spark a coup.
In the latest violence, unknown attackers lobbed a grenade near a stage set up for rallies at Government House, the prime minister's cabinet offices which supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) occupied in August.
A Bangkok emergency services spokesman said 49 people were wounded in that blast, three of them with serious injuries.
"Protesters have returned to their positions, they are not scared," PAD spokesman Suriyasai Katasila told local Channel Three television.
Twenty-minutes after the first attack, two more blasts rocked an anti-government television station but there were no injuries, Katasila said.
Hours later, a blast hit outside the small domestic airport Don Mueang, injuring two passers-by. Police had no detail on the cause of the explosion.
It was not immediately known who was behind the attacks.
Grenade attacks earlier this month at Government House killed two protesters and prompted the PAD to launch what it called its "final battle" against the government last Sunday.
Demonstrators took control of Suvarnabhumi on Tuesday and Don Mueang on Wednesday.
Somchai is now governing from the northern city of Chiang Mai, as his spokesman says he is concerned about tensions with the military in a country that has seen 18 coups since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932.
The PAD accuses Somchai's government of being a corrupt puppet for exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a putsch in 2006. Thaksin is the current premier's brother-in-law.
Supporters of the group - a loose coalition with the backing of elements in the military, the palace and the urban middle classes - say it will not leave the airports or Government House until Somchai's administration quits.
Protesters at Suvarnabhumi have dug in for the long haul. The PAD's militia have set up barricades of tyres, wooden stakes and razor wire, while inside people are bedding down in tents and preparing medical and food stocks.
On Sunday, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said the government and Qantas Airways were trying to find a way to pluck hundreds of stranded Australians out of Bangkok.
The government and Qantas were looking at two evacuation possibilities - a military airport about 140 kilometres from Bangkok, or Phuket airport, Smith told ABC television.
"That is dependent on getting access to the airports," Smith said.
Smith said the government was fed up with the blockade.
"We are becoming increasingly frustrated with what's happening in Thailand.
"We've got hundreds of Australians stranded."
About 2,000 police were deployed on Sunday to set up four more checkpoints on the road to Suvarnabhumi, airport security commander Major General Rarshane Reunkomol told Agence France-Presse. Some carried M16 rifles and pistols.
"The government is still in the process of negotiations and I have asked my men not to use force whatever happens. The gunfire will not be heard from police," Rarshane said.
A Thai pro-government group has also vowed to hold a rally in Bangkok later on Sunday, raising further fears of clashes.
Somchai on Friday dismissed the national police chief for failing to take on the protesters, whose actions have cost Thailand billions of dollars and badly hit its tourist industry.
Rumours of a coup swept the country after Somchai rejected calls from the army chief to call snap elections, but General Anupong Paojinda said military action would not solve the rifts in Thai society.
Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has urged Australians in Bangkok to keep clear of Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports.
"Australians remaining in Bangkok are urged to stay away from these airports until further notice," a spokesman said.
"The duration of airport closures or how long the emergency decree will remain in place are not known at this stage."
