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BANGKOK - Thai police on Friday ordered protesters to immediately leave one of Bangkok's besieged airports, as anti-government leaders rejected last-ditch attempts to negotiate an end to the crisis.
A police officer at the domestic Don Mueang airport, which was seized late Wednesday, read out an order to demonstrators a day after Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat declared a state of emergency.
"All protesters must... leave the rally site otherwise law enforcement officers will carry out appropriate and necessary measures to solve the situation," the order said.
As fears of bloody clashes escalated, the founder of the protest movement rejected a personal plea from the premier to hold talks to end the occupation of Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi international airport.
"Today the prime minister contacted me on the telephone to negotiate. There are no talks," Sondhi Limthongkul told supporters at Don Mueang, insisting that he was not afraid of a police crackdown.
Premier Somchai -- the target of protesters' wrath -- also dismissed the national police chief, after security forces failed to take any action despite his declaration of emergency rule.
Hundreds of police reinforcements moved back into position outside Suvarnabhumi, although police earlier said it was "not for a crackdown" against supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD).
The removal of police chief General Patcharawat Wongsuwan "is because of suitability and in line with the situation," Thai government spokesman Nattawut
Saikuar said on local television.
Airlines meanwhile began flying stranded travellers out of a naval base Friday but tens of thousands of passengers are believed to have missed flights during four days of unrest that have badly hit Thailand's tourist industry.
The government's inaction against protesters who occupied Suvarnabhumi on Tuesday and the smaller Don Mueang a day later has emboldened protesters, who have vowed to fight "to the death" if police tried to evict them.
Thousands of demonstrators braced for an assault overnight, extending razor wire cordons around Suvarnabhumi and blocking roads. Children were among those who rallied at Suvarnabhumi for a fourth day Friday.
Regional police deputy commander Major General Piya Sorntrakoon told AFP that "several companies" of police each comprising 150 officers had been deployed near Suvarnabhumi, but said they were not planning a raid.
In the northern city of Chiang Mai, Somchai said the government "does not want to trigger any violence or casualties, so to implement the law under international practice, as of now negotiations are under way."
The protesters are calling for the resignation of the government elected in December, saying it is a corrupt proxy for former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup in 2006.
The PAD is backed by elements of the palace, the army and Thailand's Bangkok-based elite, while the government draws its electoral support from the mainly northern rural poor.
Thailand's powerful army chief on Wednesday urged Somchai to dissolve parliament and hold fresh elections but the premier refused.
The army has already opposed the use of force against protesters, stoking further tensions with the government in a nation that has seen 18 coups in the past 76 years, but it has denied planning a coup.
Government spokesman Suparat Nakbunnam said Somchai would remain in Chiang Mai indefinitely, a pro-government stronghold, "as there are still uncertainties in the tensions between the government and army."
With the crisis affecting Thailand's ties with the world, the secretary general of Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN travelled to Bangkok to assess whether a summit scheduled for December in Chiang Mai could proceed.
Airlines meanwhile struggled to get even a handful of passengers out of the U-Tapao naval base about 190 kilometres (118 miles) southeast of Bangkok.
- AFP/ir
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