Thai authorities start moving passengers from airport
Posted: 26 November 2008 1454 hrs

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BANGKOK: Thai authorities Wednesday began evacuating passengers who were stranded overnight at Bangkok international airport after anti-government protesters stormed the building, an AFP reporter said.

Hundreds of weary travellers were herded out of the arrivals area at Suvarnabhumi airport onto buses provided by the facility's operator, the correspondent said.

More than 3,000 passengers have been trapped there since Tuesday night, when demonstrators swarmed the three-billion-dollar building to press their campaign against the government.

The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) "agreed to allow Airports of Thailand (AOT) and Thai Airways to evacuate 3,000 stranded passengers into town as soon as possible," an AOT official said earlier.

"AOT will provide 15 buses and Thai Airways will be responsible for city accommodation," the official told AFP.

There was no immediate comment from the PAD, which has vowed to occupy the airport until Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat resigns, saying that his government is a corrupt proxy for ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Somchai is due to return from a trip to the APEC summit in Peru later Wednesday.

- AFP/yt