Protesters return control of Bangkok airport
Posted
Updated
Packing up, moving on...yesterday the spaces between the airport check-in counters looked like camp-grounds. (Reuters: Chaiwat Subprasom)
Anti-government demonstrators have officially handed over Thailand's main Suvarnabhumi international airport to authorities after an eight-day siege, a protest leader said.
"Major General Chamlong had a handover ceremony of the airport to Airports of Thailand at 9:00am (local time)," protest leader Somkiat Pongpaibul said, referring to People's Alliance for Democracy co-founder Chamlong Srimuang.
"From now the protesters will start to leave. Some of them have started to leave since this morning and gone home. We will come back when the nation needs us," he added.
Vehicles packed high with demonstrators' belongings began streaming out of Suvarnabhumi shortly after the 10:00am (local time) time set by PAD leaders.
Yesterday the spaces between the airport check-in counters looked like camp-grounds.
This morning, they were swept and sometimes mopped clean by the protesters who have called Suvarnabumi their home for the past seven days.
"We hope to resume flights on December 4, hopefully. From tomorrow night, the first departure flight will be Bangkok-Rome, a Thai Airways flight," Vudhibhandhu Vichairatana, chairman of the board of Airports of Thailand, said.
"We will try and get everything back to normal as soon as possible."
Mr Vudhibhandhu said one domestic flight was due to arrive at the airport later today, a Thai Airways flight from the southern tourist town of Phuket.
It was originally scheduled to land at the U-Tapao naval base south-east of Bangkok, which has been standing in as the main exit point for travellers, but will now touch down at 2:00pm (local time).
The chairman said damage from the occupation of the airport by the People's Alliance for Democracy since November 25 had not yet been estimated.
'Honest leadership'
The leader of the Opposition Thai Democratic party, Abhisit Vejjajiva, says Thailand needs honest leadership.
"The thing that really feeds the protests are the actions of the Government," he said.
"And I think it's important that the new government learns the lessons of the last year and makes sure that the new government in place provides honest leadership for the whole country."
- ABC/AFP
Search for news
ABC News Online takes a look at the big stories from 2008.
