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Thread: Thousands stranded as protesters seize Bangkok airport

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    Default Thousands stranded as protesters seize Bangkok airport

    Fuck

    My sister-in-law is one of them. She's sitting at the airport right now. I hope the government doesn't decide to send in the troops and get her hurt.

    BANGKOK (AFP) — Thai protesters on Wednesday tightened their hold on Bangkok airport, where two people were wounded in a blast and thousands of travellers left stranded by demonstrators vowing to topple the government.

    Two grenade attacks elsewhere in the capital deepened the sense of lawlessness after demonstrators stormed the airport Tuesday night, dramatically stepping up their campaign against Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat.

    Suvarnabhumi Airport, a three-billion-dollar showpiece hub for travel throughout Southeast Asia, was closed down as guards from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protest movement sealed off roads to the facility.

    The PAD said it completely controlled the airport -- a pet project of ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra that opened with great fanfare in 2006 -- and told airlines to apply directly to the group for landing rights.

    "I have been informed by Thai Airways that 3,000 passengers are stranded at the terminal now," airport director Saereerat Prasutanont told AFP, adding that 78 outbound and incoming flights were affected .

    "Protesters refused to negotiate with anyone except the prime minister."

    Police said at least 8,000 demonstrators, wearing yellow clothes in a traditional symbol of loyalty to the revered monarchy, cheered on PAD leaders who gave speeches from a stage set up in the taxi drop-off area.

    "It's not fair," said Vanessa Sloan, 31, from Florida, who was supposed to fly to the northern city of Chiang Mai on Wednesday.

    "We spent the night here after all the check-in staff ran away. No one is here to help."

    Dejected passengers surrounded by trolleys piled high with baggage were camping out near the check-in desks in the terminal, an AFP correspondent said.

    The Australian government warned its citizens Wednesday to take extra precautions if planning to visit Thailand, while Singapore Airlines said it had cancelled its flights to and from Bangkok.

    The PAD -- a loose coalition comprising royalists, Bangkok's old elite and the middle class -- is spreading chaos ahead of the prime minister's return from a foreign trip on Wednesday evening.

    The alliance launched their campaign in May, accusing Somchai's government of being a corrupt puppet of his brother in law, former PM Thaksin, who was toppled in a 2006 coup and remains in exile to avoid corruption charges.

    Senior PAD leader Chaiwat Sinswuwong said the movement had "completely taken control" of the airport.

    "So any airline that wants to take off or land must seek permission from us directly," Chaiwat said.

    The protesters had only allowed one flight to take off, a departure to Saudi Arabia for the Muslim hajj pilgrimage.

    Support for PAD rallies has dropped in recent weeks, but its seizure of the airport leaves the government in a dilemma.

    If it fails to act, Thailand's economy and tourism industry will be hit, risking the possibility of another military putsch to prevent further chaos.

    But the government will also want to avoid a repeat of clashes between protesters and police on October 7 that left two people dead and nearly 500 injured.

    The Thai government said it had asked the security forces for assistance and refused to rule out the possibility of emergency action.

    "I cannot answer whether the government plans to declare a state of emergency or any other internal security act. It is under Prime Minister Somchai's consideration," government spokesman Nattawut Saikuar told AFP.

    The government has been effectively paralysed since protesters occupied the prime minister's offices in central Bangkok in August, forcing Somchai to work from makeshift premises at Bangkok's old Don Mueang airport.

    A grenade attack on demonstrators at Don Mueang wounded two early Wednesday, emergency services said. A near simultaneous blast at Suvarnabhumi, which reports said was a grenade fired at protesters, left another two injured.

    Another three were hurt when two grenades were tossed into a crowd of pro-government supporters on a road to Don Mueang, the site of a clash between rival activists that left 11 hurt on Tuesday, police said.

    Somchai has rejected calls to quit. His plane back from the APEC summit in Peru was due to land at an undisclosed location on Wednesday evening.

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    Default Re: Thousands stranded as protesters seize Bangkok airport

    .
    Last edited by 01RedDX; 10-17-2020 at 06:16 PM.

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    Default Re: Re: Thousands stranded as protesters seize Bangkok airport

    Originally posted by 01RedDX


    With the amount of tourists inside the airport, the Thai government is not going to risk an international incident. I am sure this will get resolved in a non-violent manner in a day or two.
    Also a problem, seeing as how she has no where to go till then.

    Yeesh, what a time for her to go.

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    Is she in contact with you? What's the atmosphere like?

    These are usually pretty festive atmospheres from what limited thigns I've read in the past and a lot of it goes on as business as usual.

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    My parents were told by their travel agent to get there early to come back home to Calgary yesterday. Luckily their tour group was running a little late and right as they were about to leave found out about the take over. Now they are stranded with the group trying to find a way to another airport to try to get back home to canada.

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    Ya, I'm freaking out about the situation as well since I've already booked my ticket to Thailand. It's an ongoing political problem that will not be resolved anytime soon. I've read in another forum that Thailand's tourism industry has already fallen 50% and lost billions of dollars, and they are expecting a low turnout for their high season.

    I just hope that they won't protest and close down the airport when I'm there.
    Where are all the materialistic people?!

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    Video from the airport in Bangkok was on the news this morning, it looked like there was a Pedo bear convention at airport...

    To Catch a Predator should just setup there and arrest 90% of the airport...

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    Default Re: Thousands stranded as protesters seize Bangkok airport

    Originally posted by Tik-Tok
    Fuck

    My sister-in-law is one of them. She's sitting at the airport right now. I hope the government doesn't decide to send in the troops and get her hurt.

    Yikes, I was hoping she had gotten out of there by now! Hopefully she's okay and remains so until they can get her safely home! Scary situation for sure.

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    Default Re: Re: Thousands stranded as protesters seize Bangkok airport

    Originally posted by Melinda

    Yikes, I was hoping she had gotten out of there by now! Hopefully she's okay and remains so until they can get her safely home! Scary situation for sure.
    She managed to keep her room at the hotel, thank god.

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    Default Re: Re: Re: Thousands stranded as protesters seize Bangkok airport

    Originally posted by Tik-Tok


    She managed to keep her room at the hotel, thank god.
    Will they let her leave the airport to go to that hotel or is she stuck there until the whole situation is over?

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    Maybe they can flee into Burma (Myanmar) and summon the troops to invade Siam and kill the King and his children.

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    Default Re: Re: Re: Re: Thousands stranded as protesters seize Bangkok airport

    Originally posted by Melinda

    Will they let her leave the airport to go to that hotel or is she stuck there until the whole situation is over?
    I misinterpreted her first message, she never got inside the airport, but was sitting around outside for awhile. She's back at her hotel now, trying to make other arrangements.

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    Have you heard back from your sis in law?
    Where are all the materialistic people?!

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    Good to hear that she's not there.

    Hopefully it all works out
    In reference to Rob Anders:
    Originally posted by ZenOps
    Hes not really that bad...

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    She called again. She's out of money (looks like someone stole her credit card #), she missed her connecting flight Hongkong to Vancouver, neither her or her travel agent could get ahold of ANYONE at Cathay Pacific to change the flight, so who knows what's going on there. Hopefully they are understanding and will credit her the money, and rebook at no cost... but unfortunately I know airlines all too well. (I don't know if she had ticket insurance or not)

    So tomorrow I'm putting some money in her account (not her credit card), and hopefully her travel agent can pull a miracle out of her ass, or the president will give in to demands for a re-election so they can get that airport running again.
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    My moms travel group was able to get another flight booked for friday morning with cathay pacific. Hopefully by then they will be letting travel commence again and they can finally get back to canada.

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    damn thats a bad situation. I am suppose to go to Bangkok for New Years too. Maybe i should just stay in Vietnam then

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    Originally posted by redline
    Video from the airport in Bangkok was on the news this morning, it looked like there was a Pedo bear convention at airport...

    To Catch a Predator should just setup there and arrest 90% of the airport...
    wut?

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    Originally posted by Tik-Tok
    She called again. She's out of money (looks like someone stole her credit card #), she missed her connecting flight Hongkong to Vancouver, neither her or her travel agent could get ahold of ANYONE at Cathay Pacific to change the flight, so who knows what's going on there. Hopefully they are understanding and will credit her the money, and rebook at no cost... but unfortunately I know airlines all too well. (I don't know if she had ticket insurance or not)

    So tomorrow I'm putting some money in her account (not her credit card), and hopefully her travel agent can pull a miracle out of her ass, or the president will give in to demands for a re-election so they can get that airport running again.
    Yikes! That's awful! So, was she able to book another flight for next week?
    Where are all the materialistic people?!

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    Originally posted by JWL


    Yikes! That's awful! So, was she able to book another flight for next week?

    Yeah, her next flight is booked for sunday. I hope this get be resolved (peacefully) by then, so she get get her butt home. She's been gone since last January, and the DAY she's coming home, this happens

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