December 04, 2008	Thursday	Zilhaj 5, 1429

BANGKOK, Dec 3: Anti-government protesters lifted their crippling, eight-day blockade of Thailand’s main airport on Wednesday, raising the hopes of 230,000 stranded tourists even though there was no end in sight to the wider political crisis.

A Thai Airways domestic flight landed and several international flights were scheduled to leave, although it was unclear when full operations would resume.

Still cheering Tuesday’s sacking of the government by the courts, thousands of yellow-shirted People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) activists made way for an army of cleaners at the $4 billion Suvarnabhumi terminal, one of the world’s biggest.

Despite end of the airport protest, Thailand looks set to remain politically riven and chaotic for much longer.

Dissolution of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) will heal none of the basic rifts between Bangkok’s royalist elite and middle classes, who despise ousted and exiled leader Thaksin Shinawatra, and the urban poor and rural masses who love him and continue to vote his allies into office.

“Thailand remains locked in this structurally flawed system for the foreseeable future,” said IHS Global Insight analyst Kristina Azmi. “The risk of civil unrest is growing and with it the accompanying risk of military intervention.”

The PAD, led by a group of royalist businessmen, academics and activists, formally marked the end of the occupation by singing the king’s anthem. Ominously, the PAD protesters vow to return if they see Thaksin allies getting near power again.

“I am sad that we are going,” said Ranatip, 48, an unemployed office assistant. “But I am ready to fight for my king and my country. I will come back as soon as I am needed.”

Even though Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat — Thaksin’s brother-in-law — and several cabinet ministers were banned by Tuesday’s court ruling, most MPs have survived and simply switched to a new “shell” party.

Parliamentary numbers suggest they have a comfortable majority, and acting Prime Minister Chavarat Charnvirakul said parliament would convene on Dec 8 to select a new prime minister, the third in as many months.

Cargo flights started to leave Suvarnabhumi on Tuesday but the occupation has dealt an enormous blow to tourism and the export sector, already reeling from the global economic crisis.—Reuters