Bangkok airport protesters dig in for siege
By Ed Cropley
BANGKOK, Nov 28 (Reuters) - A five-lane expressway leading to one of Asia's biggest airports is not where you would normally expect to see a man practising his golf swing.
But Bangkok's $4 billion Suvarnabhumi airport is anything but normal these days.
Thousands of anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protesters forced the 125,000-passenger-a-day complex to shut down on Tuesday.
They are now settled in for a prolonged siege, dug in behind a series of barricades of fire trucks, razor wire, car tyres and luggage trolleys stretching a mile (1.5 km) north of the futuristic terminal building.
Tough-looking PAD security guards, some wearing body armour, others motorbike or construction helmets, man the checkpoints, stopping vehicles to look for plainclothes police or pro-government gangs.
Their visible weapons are everything from wooden stakes and rusting scythes to golf clubs.
"They're for hitting the government people, but at the moment he's just practicing his swing," said 60-year-old retired lawyer Ronald Vilyu, as a colleague teed up to an imaginary golf ball with a seven iron.
More disturbing, and perhaps partly explaining why police have been so reluctant to storm the airport and remove the PAD by force, some of the guards are in all probability armed, Vilyu said. [nSP351026]
"Officially we've no weapons. But the leaders can't control all the guards," he said. "How could we come here without protecting ourselves?"
SHOOTING, GRENADES
Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, whom the PAD accuse of being a puppet of ousted leader Thaksin Shinawatra, declared a state of emergency on Thursday at Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang, Bangkok's second airport, where a similar siege is under way. [nBKK345814]
But the PAD say they are ready for any assault, their sentinels constantly scanning the airport horizons for signs of massing police or the red shirts of the pro-government gangs they say itch for a confrontation.
"Last night it was just shooting, but you never know when another bomb is going to fall," said Opal, a woman in her 20s, pointing to a blast hole in the side of the road she said was caused by a grenade launched against them on Tuesday night.
"But we're not scared," she said, falling back on the PAD mantra that the six-month campaign is to defend King Bhumibol Adulyadej against an alleged Thaksin plot to turn Thailand into a republic.
"We're doing it for the king. We are the people of the king and the king will look after us. When the king has a problem, we will fight for him," she said.
Airport staff milling around outbuildings wonder desperately when they are going to be able to get back to work, but do not expect an all-out police or military assault against a movement that has swathed itself so totally in the king's revered cloak. [nBKK361128]
"We will try to do it through negotiations. We don't want to kill each other. That's the Thai way," said Borarat, a Thai Airways flight supervisor who did not want to give her full name.
Meanwhile, a handful of foreign tourists continue to wait it out, hostages to a deepening political crisis that threatens untold damage to Thailand's economy and its image as a "Land of Smiles" tourist paradise. [nBKK386472]
"Right now, I'm just so sick of Thailand. This is so unpleasant. I just want to go home," said 69-year-old Regina Schumacher from Los Angeles, choking back tears.
"We've got nothing to do with the politics, but we're the ones caught in the middle." (Editing by Darren Schuettler and Jerry Norton)
