As of 7 pm Bangkok time Tuesday, the BBC was reporting that the protests that have closed the Thai capital’s two civilian airports for the past week, stranding hundreds of thousands of passengers, has been called off. Here’s the BBC report:
Thai anti-government protesters have agreed to end their occupation of Bangkok’s airports, allowing thousands of stranded tourists to leave.
Passenger flights from the main international airport are to resume on 4 December, say correspondents. Protests had shut down Thailand’s two main airports for more than a week.
The deal follows a court ruling that forced Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat to step down over election fraud and disbanded his governing party.
The constitutional court ordered Mr Somchai’s governing People Power Party and two of its coalition partners to disband. The parties’ leaders were also barred from politics for five years.
The ruling came after months of protests led by the anti-government People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) that have crippled the political process in Thailand. They had vowed to continue their protests until the entire government stepped down.
They accused Mr Somchai’s administration of being corrupt and hostile to the much-revered monarchy, and too close to ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
If this proves to be true, I’m greatly relieved the protesters have come to their senses. I’m confused, though: based on everything I have read locally, the constitutional court’s ruling was fully anticipated, the date of the ruling was fixed well in advance, and the chain of events – court ruling followed by government dissolution – was widely expected.
If this is the case, then why didn’t the PAD simply allow the court to act, following due process? Why didn’t the PAD let the wheels of justice – wheels they knew were already turning in their favor – turn on their own rather than do untold damage to their country and fellow citizens?
Anyone have any good answers?
christao408 
Nope – no answers. Hope all is well for the end of January tho. V
At least it is peace and quiet for now. I think it is a political game with someone pulling strings behind the scene. I had typed what was in my mind about the situation, but decided to delete it because I think Thailand, like China, monitors and selectively censors.
@stevew918 – It definitely monitors. How much it censors is an unanswered question.
@venice – Let’s hope…
The courts should be independent. Now it seems that the opposite is true in Thailand. There is still a long way to go before Thailand becomes a real democracy.
Maybe the Thai people are westernizing and have developed the need for instant gratification? At any rate they no doubt read your blog and the threat of you leaving the country put an end to it all. Rock on Chris.
If it hadn’t been for the closed airports the world would never have known what was going on and the PAD would not have been able to garner the publicity and maybe the support they were seeking. It seems they actually had a worldwide public forum for their views for the first time. Even the ousting of the prime minister a few years back wasn’t newsworthy in most countries. Impact the bottom line and countries sit up and take notice. Unfortunately the publicity will have a negative impact on tourism at the height of the season. So sad.
Wow – call me confused. ^They seem to have a pretty good answer though. . .makes sense.
Well, how many other chances will they have to make an airport their private playground for a week and get away with it?
@moptoplop – Oh, probably as many as they want… ; )
@choyshinglin – The perception here, as near as I can tell, is that the courts are pretty independent. That’s why I think the pro-government, pro-Thaksin forces probably won’t mount protests against the court’s verdict on the scale that the PAD did. They simply don’t have the support of a lot of the population who respects the courts’ decision even if they don’t agree with it.
That could just be my wishful thinking, though.
@bebesmill – Oh, yeah…. THAT’S why it came to an end! He he… I think if they were concerned about me leaving, they would just keep the airport blocked indefinitely.
@stebow – Good analysis and international coverage was an important part. You may have noticed that all of these protests, including the march I got caught up in a few weeks back, had plenty of English language signs. That was a deliberate effort to ensure their message could be picked up by foreign media. Still, what did they gain by taking the airports hostage that they wouldn’t have otherwise gained through normal means? Who knows…
@christao408 – That’s it. I’m joining the PAD.
My opinion (not that it is important) is that they wanted to mark one in the “win” column. What better way than to protest for a foregone conclusion? The verdict was a “sure thing” so they look good. By shutting down the airports – like so many others noted – they received free publicity on a global scale. It was a win-win in their eyes. Too bad they are near sighted.
IMVHO, the whole thing goes back to Thaksin. Thaksin showed arrogance toward the king. Look back at the King’s anniversary. Thaksin made himself very much a focal point in the media. He did not show due respect to the monarchy. The monarchy is, I think, ambivalent about full throttle ahead in the area of a democratic society and participation in globalization. We still do not know who financed the whole PAD operation and did the logistical planning. Lots of mysteries, as always. I do love the happy endings we always have in Thailand in recent years and fervently hope that one is at the end of this cycle of Thai political evolution.Besides, it had to end before Friday, right?Cheers to some relief and opening up transportation to the world.Liz
it’s good that the incident is coming to an end, however I wonder why all these years these kinds of incidents always happen and ends b4 some important days…like a birthday of any Royal Family Members….etc
@agmhkg – Hmm…. I wonder…. couldn’t possibly be any connection.
Thought you might find these interesting:http://thaipolitico.blogspot.com/2008/12/cult-or-cure.htmlhttp://www.bangkokpost.com/021108_Spectrum/02Nov2008_spec25.phphttp://reallifethailand.blogspot.com/2008/08/truth-about-chamlong.html
@CareyGLY – Interesting links. Thanks for sharing them.