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PATTAYA, Thailand - Thundering low over this Thai beach resort, helicopters airlifted bewildered foreign leaders in extraordinary scenes after a red-shirted swarm of protesters stormed the luxury hotel venue.
Thousands of supporters loyal to fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra barged past lines of soldiers and riot police, smashing their way through the glass doors of the upscale hotel hosting the ASEAN talks.
Hooting horns and yelling slogans, they streamed into the building and through the media centre, astonishing dozens of journalists as they rampaged towards an adjacent building where leaders were holding a luncheon.
Hotel staff quickly cleared the restaurants and hustled bikini-clad tourists out of the pool as the protesters staged a sit-in rally at the heart of the summit, blocked by security forces with flak jackets and shotguns.
"The commotion made us nervous," said one shaken hotel worker, a young waitress named Sureerat.
Embattled premier Abhisit Vejjajiva quickly appeared on live television, telling the divided nation that the summit of 16 Asian nations was cancelled because of the protesters, who are demanding his resignation.
In a dramatic move, he called a state of emergency for Pattaya -- one of Thailand's top tourist destinations -- and the surrounding province to assist the immediate evacuation of the visiting heads of state.
"The government has a duty to take care of the leaders who will depart from Thailand," Abhisit said in the address, which went out on all channels.
"In this extremely serious situation, the government has decided to impose a state of emergency in Pattaya and Chonburi to deal with the situation."
Within minutes, the deafening noise of the protesters, which had echoed through the halls of the venue, was replaced by the thumping of the helicopter blades as the aircraft swooped onto the hotel's rooftop.
Abhisit -- the number-one target of the demonstrators -- was the first to fly out of town, whisked away to the Vietnam War-era U-Tapao military airfield near Pattaya.
The leaders of the Philippines, Myanmar and Vietnam followed by choppers to the airstrip, where planes were on standby to take them home.
However, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong travelled to the airport by car after the protesters had dispersed. Other leaders also left by road but all were evacuated within hours of the ruckus.
A Southeast Asian diplomat said visiting dignitaries were not perturbed about the "captain of the ship" leaving first.
"Abhisit was the target of the protesters and if he remained here, the other leaders would have been endangered," he said.
Left behind were shell-shocked delegates and media, who stood amidst the debris including toppled metal detectors, smashed reception tables and small pools of blood where some protesters had been injured by broken glass.
At a Japanese restaurant overlooking the poolside, hotel staff locked the glass doors but opened them briefly to allow in stranded guests as well as police shuttling in and out of the hotel.
However, a group of foreign diplomats' wives nonchalantly finished their sushi lunch.
"We are used to these demonstrations here," said Janet Rodriguez, wife of the Filipino ambassador to Thailand, while observing that the invasion of the summit venue "is not a sign of strength" for the host nation.
Luggage was strewn all over the lobby of the Royal Cliff Beach Resort, as delegates checked out en masse.
"We have to pull out now," said the aide of one Southeast Asian leader, barking orders from a hand-held radio as his 50-member delegation prepared to travel to the nearby airbase.
"Thailand should not have allowed this to happen. How could they have allowed the protesters to go this far? They should have blocked them before they reached here," he told AFP.
- AFP/ir
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