Thai protesters consolidate hold on airport

By Darren Schuettler

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai protesters prepared to end their three-month occupation of the Prime Minister's office on Monday to consolidate their grip on the main airport ahead of a court verdict that could dissolve the elected government.

Leaders of the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) said they would invite neutral observers into the Government House compound, which they overran in late August, prior to a hoped-for handover later on Tuesday.

"We want to show the authorities that the damage wasn't 100 million to 200 million baht ($5.6 million) as claimed by the government," PAD spokesman Suriyasai Katasila said. "If everybody is happy, we may hold a returning ceremony tomorrow."

PAD supporters streamed from the central Bangkok site to Suvarnabhumi airport, suggesting it is merely shifting its focus rather than giving up. Government House site was hit by several grenades in the past two weeks, killing one and wounding dozens.

The yellow-shirted demonstrators are trying to topple Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, whom they accuse of being a pawn for his brother-in-law, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 coup and is now in exile.

Somchai insisted again he would not go.

"I will not quit and I will not dissolve parliament," he told reporters in the northern city of Chiang Mai.

Forecasts for an economy already suffering from the global financial crisis are grim.

Finance Minister Suchart Thada-Thamrongvech told Reuters on Monday the economy might be flat next year, or grow by just 1 to 2 percent, after earlier growth forecasts of between 4-5 percent.

Thailand's Board of Trade director said the cost of the airport closures was "incalculable," but a senior board member offered a figure, telling the Nation newspaper lost export earnings ran at around 3 billion baht ($85 million) a day.

The air cargo industry has ground to a halt, while the city's main domestic hub, Don Muang, has also been occupied for 5 days.

Rating agency S&P cut Thailand's outlook to negative from stable, saying there was a possibility of widespread violence.

The chaos has worried Thailand's neighbors, due to meet in the country in two weeks for a regional summit. The Thai cabinet is expected to approve a delay to March at their Tuesday meeting.

Earlier Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Jakarta had offered to hold the foreign ministers' meeting of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations because of the political crisis in Thailand.

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