Leader wants airports back

BANGKOK, Thailand — Weary of anti-government protesters who have paralyzed Bangkok's two commercial airports with mass sit-ins, Thailand's prime minister announced an emergency decree Thursday authorizing police and some military units to evict them.

The order by the prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat, raised the prospect of arrests and violence if the protesters refused to leave. Their sit-ins, which began Wednesday, have basically shut down Bangkok, the capital, to air commerce and elevated the anti-government protests here to a national crisis.

The protesters, who have been occupying the offices and grounds of the prime minister's residence for three months, say they will keep the airports shut until the government steps down.

Somchai announced the decree in a nationally televised address after a Cabinet meeting.

"It is necessary for me to announce an emergency decree in some areas," he said. "There is no intention to harm anyone."

He assigned police, air-force and naval units to "take care" of the situation. While his words seemed deliberately vague, the decree empowered the government to suspend some civil liberties at the two airports. It would permit restricting the movement of people and banning mass assembly, among other measures.

Growing impatience

Government supporters who have formed an auxiliary, known as the Red Shirts, said they were growing impatient with the protesters. Weera Musikapong, a leader of the group, told reporters that the "best way out" of the crisis was to follow the law. "But, if the government does not act today or tomorrow, the Red Shirt group and the people must come out and do something."

Protesters have clashed with pro-government forces in recent months, leaving at least two people dead and dozens injured.

Thailand's tourism minister, Weerasak Kohsurat, said the government would soon begin flying thousands of stranded tourists out of the country using military bases near Bangkok.

Government officials also said Thursday they would allow commercial airlines to use one of the military airports, U-Tapao.

U-Tapao can handle only a fraction of the daily average of 100,000 passengers who flew in and out of Suvarnabhumi International Airport last year.

The airport is about 120 miles from Bangkok, a two-hour drive.

The seizure of Bangkok's airports is radical even by the standards of Thailand's tempestuous political past. Despite frequent military coups and changes of government in past decades, the day-to-day running of Thailand's bureaucracy had been largely unaffected until now. The airports operated with little interruption during a military coup in 2006, and unlike many of its neighbors Thailand has maintained reliable service in key areas such as electricity and health care despite political turmoil.

Interfering with life

But with the closure of the airports this week and occupation of the prime minister's office since August, politics is now directly interfering with many facets of life in Thailand.

The country's foreign minister, Sompong Amornwiwat, said the government is considering postponing a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations scheduled for next month because of the political crisis, Reuters reported.

Cargo services at Suvarnabhumi airport, a major hub for Southeast Asia, have ceased, a major blow to Thai and foreign companies that use the country as an export base.

"The protesters have basically closed down the country," said Ruth Banomyong, an associate professor at Thammasat Business School who is one of the region's leading experts in logistics.

"Thailand was never considered as a very risky country," he said. "I don't think companies would have prepared for this."

Thailand is well integrated into a regional network of just-in-time electronics manufacturing, where businesses keep down costs by maintaining a bare minimum of inventories. If the airports remain closed, assembly lines in Japan and China may run out of the semiconductors, disk drives and other components manufactured in Thailand.

Ruth estimates that electronics manufacturers keep about three to five days of inventory.

"This idea of Bangkok and Suvarnabhumi being a cargo hub — they can drop it down the drain now," he said.

Thailand last year exported about $40 billion in electronics and computer components. Leading electronics manufacturing including Fujitsu, Seagate, Philips, and LG have factories in the country.

The airport closures may also prove dangerous for those in need of urgent medical care.

Neighboring countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos rely on Thailand for health care because Bangkok has some of the best hospitals in the region. The closure of the airports has shut off the urgent provision of medicines and medical machinery from abroad.