Blast at Bangkok airport
2008-12-02 08:19
Bangkok - A bomb blast killed an
anti-government protester and wounded 22 at Bangkok's blockaded
Don Muang airport on Tuesday.
Channel 7 television said an M79 grenade was fired from a
flyover near the domestic airport, which has been occupied by
the People's Alliance for Democracy since last Thursday, part
of the escalating campaign to topple the six-party ruling
coalition.
An emergency services official said 17 of the wounded in
the blast, which occurred shortly after midnight, had already
been discharged from hospital.
The yellow-shirted demonstrators are trying to topple
Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, whom they accuse of being a pawn for his
brother-in-law, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin was
ousted in a 2006 coup and is now in exile.
Somchai insisted on Monday he would not go.
"I will not quit and I will not dissolve Parliament," he told
reporters in the northern city of Chiang Mai.
The PAD protesters were due to end a three-month occupation
of the prime minister's office on Tuesday to consolidate their
grip on the international airport, which has been blockaded for
a week, adding to the pain of a tourist- and export-dependent
economy already suffering from the global financial crisis.
Finance Minister Suchart Thada-Thamrongvech told Reuters on
Monday the economy might be flat next year, or grow by just 1-2%, after earlier growth forecasts of between 4-5%.
Thailand's Board of Trade director said the cost of the
airport closures was "incalculable", but a senior board member
offered a figure, telling the Nation newspaper lost export
earnings ran at around $85m a day.
The air cargo industry has ground to a halt, while the
city's main domestic hub, Don Muang, has also been occupied for
five days.