Unrest unusual before Thai king's birthday

BANGKOK, Thailand — This is supposed to be party time for Thais.

Each year they celebrate their beloved king's birthday, a national bash that draws throngs here to watch a parade of royal barges, listen to the monarch's jazz compositions or bow as he passes by in his pale-yellow Rolls-Royce.

This time, as they awaited Friday's celebration of King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 81st birthday, most Thais are wondering what, if anything, the man revered as a demigod will do to lead his subjects out of political crisis.

The latest confrontation — a weeklong occupation of the country's airports — was defused Tuesday, with a Thai Airways commercial flight from the island of Phuket touching down at 2:15 p.m. today, and several flights scheduled to depart later in the day.

However, before thousands of anti-government demonstrators could finish packing up their woks, folding cots, golf clubs and other articles of airport occupation, their leader was warning of the possibility of more crippling antigovernment protests.

Sondhi Limthongkul, the media mogul who heads the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), warned that he's ready to call demonstrators back to the streets at any moment regardless of the resignation of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat following a court order to dissolve his governing party.

Anti-government protesters accuse Thaksin of corruption and actions against the king and seek to rid the government of Thaksin's influences.

But the majority of Thais have shown, in elections dating to Thaksin's first victory in 2001, that they like his policies offering more help for the poor, such as universal health care, and farmland for more than 1 million landless families.

Sondhi, who was once in business with Thaksin, uses his satellite-TV channel, a newspaper, a radio station, a Web site and other outlets to maximize the power of a political minority, based mainly in Bangkok and southern Thailand. He draws support mostly from business leaders, the middle class and the urban elite.

Many here believe that Sondhi's well-funded operation is secretly supported by Bhumibol, a revered figure in Thai society. Sondhi's protesters wear yellow as a symbol of their royalist leanings.

People who found themselves shut out of the political-patronage system joined dissatisfied royalists, business leaders and members of the middle class to form the People's Alliance for Democracy in 2006.

Somchai seemed relieved Tuesday to be leaving the fray.

"It is not a problem," Somchai told reporters in the northern city of Chiang Mai, where he had remained amid rumors of an impending coup last week. His decision to step down Tuesday, after the Constitutional Court banned him from politics for five years and ordered the dissolution of his party, hasn't resolved the nation's fundamental dispute.

The military, which has said it doesn't want to carry out a coup, had called on Thais to end the crisis before the king's birthday.

Bhumibol is the world's longest-reigning monarch. Although the king has mostly a ceremonial role under the Thai Constitution, he has been called on to help resolve numerous political crises during his 62-year rule.

But the king might not be able to work the magic he has in past crises, because this time the palace's neutrality is in question. In October, Queen Sirikit presided over the funeral of a 28-year-old PAD supporter who was killed when a tear-gas canister struck her head as police tried to break up a demonstration.

The anti-government alliance interpreted the queen's appearance at the funeral, along with her daughter Princess Chulabhorn, as silent approval from the palace for its months-long effort to topple the government.

The king was born in Cambridge, Mass., where his father was studying at Harvard. Bhumibol became king in 1946 when his brother was found dead in his bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head. The death remains a mystery.

An artist, musician and avid photographer, Bhumibol holds degrees in engineering and political science.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.