cryptogon.com

People’s Alliance of Democracy (PAD) “security guards,” armed with sticks and metal bars, manned a series of makeshift fortified roadblocks on the expressway leading to the capital’s $4 billion Suvarnabhumi airport, shut since Tuesday.

There were similar scenes at the city’s Don Muang airport, whose closure late on Wednesday severed all air links between the city of 8 million and the outside world.

In a televised address from the government stronghold of Chiang Mai, 700 km (400 miles) north of Bangkok, Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat declared emergency law, saying the export and tourism-driven economy could not tolerate further disruption.

“I need to do something to restore peace and order,” he said.

A similar declaration in September to dislodge protesters occupying Government House was ignored by the army and, even though the PAD were preparing to repel a police assault, it was not clear when, or even if, one would materialize.

The sit-ins have forced hundreds of flights to be canceled, stranding thousands of foreign tourists in one of Asia’s biggest air hubs and grounding millions of dollars of air cargo.

“We will not leave. We will use human shields against the police if they try to disperse us,” PAD leader Suriyasai Katasila told Reuters.

Another PAD figurehead threatened to expand the movement’s six-month campaign by bringing Bangkok’s road traffic network to a halt with flying protests at dozens of motorway intersections.

A government spokesman said the economy could lose at least 100 billion baht ($2.8 billion) if the sieges drag on for a month and reduce GDP growth for the year to 4 percent from a current estimate of 4.5 percent, already a seven-year low.

The Bangkok Post said on Friday that the strife would lead to tens of thousands of job losses in the tourism industry while The Nation, citing a University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce survey, forecast losses of between 70 billion baht and 130 billion baht ($2 billion – $4 billion) in the sector.

FINAL BATTLE

Thailand’s three-year-old political crisis has deepened dramatically since the PAD began a “final battle” on Monday to unseat a government it accuses of being a pawn of former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in a 2006 coup. Somchai is Thaksin’s brother-in-law.

Pressure has built on the army to step in since Somchai rejected military calls to quit, but pro-government forces are threatening to take up arms if the elected administration is ousted, raising fears of major civil unrest.