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BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat on Wednesday rejected a call by the army chief to hold new elections, in a major escalation of tensions with protesters who have seized the country's main airport.
In a televised address, Somchai insisted the government elected in December was "legitimate" and said he had ordered an urgent cabinet meeting to restore order after thousands of tourists were stranded by the airport blockade.
His defiance of the powerful army chief in a country that has seen 18 coups added to the sense of crisis spreading through Thailand, with one political activist dying in a clash.
"I reassure the people that this government, which is legitimate and came from elections, will keep functioning until the end," Somchai said from the northern city of Chiang Mai, where he arrived earlier from abroad.
He added: "The protesters have broken the law with arms, have seized government house (his Bangkok office, occupied in August) and the airport. They have destroyed democracy with mob rule."
Shortly after he touched down in Chiang Mai, having diverted from protest-hit Bangkok, a man was killed in a fight between pro- and anti-government supporters in the city.
The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protest movement says the government is a corrupt proxy for their arch-foe, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in September 2006.
After thousands of PAD activists stormed Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport on Tuesday night in a major escalation of their six-month campaign, army chief Anupong Paojinda said the demonstrators should leave the premises.
But he also urged Somchai to call new polls - less than a year after Thaksin's allies won the troubled kingdom's last election, thanks largely to Thaksin's support base among the rural poor.
"We will send him (Somchai) a letter to inform that he must dissolve the house and call new elections," Anupong told a news conference after an urgent meeting of military and business leaders to address the crisis.
"This is not a coup," the army chief said, dressed in his uniform.
The plight of angry, hungry and tired foreign tourists left stranded at the three-billion-dollar Suvarnabhumi Airport underlined the turmoil threatening Thailand's vital tourism industry and hitting the economy.
Earlier a grenade attack outside the airport wounded two protesters, while two other attacks left five others injured.
Airport director Saereerat Prasutanont said 3,000 people were stranded on Wednesday. The passengers, many of whom had nothing to eat or drink overnight, had earlier begun leaving on buses provided by airport authorities. But some remained.
"I went to ask the staff at the counters but no one was there. Then I didn't know that they had buses for the tourists so I am still stuck here," said Andre Weise, 37-year-old tourist from Germany.
As the passengers trickled out of the airport - the world's 17th busiest - many of the 8,000 PAD demonstrators who had been rallying outside entered the terminal, setting up makeshift food stalls and floor mats.
A Bangkok court later ordered them to vacate the premises.
The PAD is a coalition of royalists, Bangkok's old elite and the middle class that loathes Thaksin - who is Somchai's brother-in-law - and wants to replace the one-man, one-vote system with one that includes non-elected members.
Thaksin remains in exile after being convicted in absentia for corruption.
Somchai's administration has been effectively paralysed since protesters occupied the prime ministerial offices in central Bangkok in August.
The crisis in Thailand caused international alarm.
Governments around the world including China, France, New Zealand, Singapore, Britain, the United States, Australia and Japan warned their citizens to avoid Thailand and steer clear of protesters at the airport.
Britain voiced deep concern and urged all sides to seek a peaceful solution to the crisis while "respecting Thailand's democratic institutions," while Italy set up a crisis cell to repatriate stricken tourists. - AFP/ir/de
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