Bangkok airport paralyzed due to PAD protests

Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport was paralyzed on Wednesday. Most of the filghts were cancelled after protesters led by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) expanded their besiege on state agencies to the airport on Tuesday evening. This is a further blow to the country’s tourism image.

Thousands of passengers, many of them foreigners, were stranded at the airport after the AOT (Airports of Thailand) shut down the operations after (.00 p.m. on Tuesday.

In addition to this, four explosions happened early Wednesday morning near the Suvarnabhumi International Airport and Don Mueangdomestic airport, injuring at least 12 people.

The PAD announced Wednesday that the protesters would occupy and shut down the Suvanarbhumi airport until Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat resigns.

Some foreign embassies, including those of China and United States, have warned its citizens against travelling to Thailand for now or staying away from demonstration sites in the country to avoid possible harm.

Serirat Prasutanon, director of the Suvarnabhumi airport, said the PAD besiege caused the airport to lose about 50 million baht (1.43 million U.S. dollars) of income daily. Some 700 flights use the airport daily, but now most of them were canceled.