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Flashback to 2008 when Phuket airport was occupied and ceased operating

Thai Airport Exposed to Danger as Protesters Block Access in Surat Thani

Wednesday, September 4, 2013
PHUKET: The main road in and out of Surat Thai Airport has been blockaded by protesters, local sources told Phuketwan this afternoon.

''We can't get through,'' a local said. ''The airport road is closed now.''

Riot police were reported earlier in the day to have been sent to Surat Thani and Krabi Airports to prevent the facilities being occupied or besieged.

A Government spokesperson was quoted earlier in the day as saying authorities would not allow the airports to be closed because it would tarnish Thailand's image.

A protest by rubber farmers who want the Government to subsidise falling prices has grown more intense this week with highways and roads in Rayong, Surat Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat being blocked.

Although rubber is grown on Phuket, there has been no sign so far of the protest spreading to the holiday island.

The Peoples Alliance for Democracy movement occupied and shut down Phuket International Airport for 72 hours in August 2008 as a prelude to a much larger invasion of both of Bangkok's main airports later that year.

The airport invasions led to the transfer of power from a Thaksin Shinawatra-supporting government to the Democrat Party. Three years later, the Democrats lost a national election.

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"authorities would not allow the airports to be closed because it would tarnish Thailand's image." AND the corruption and scams and lack of proper justice do nothing to tarnish the image? Dream on you fools. ASEAN in 2015 will show you all to be .. .. .. you fill in the blanks.

Posted by Inepto Cracy on September 4, 2013 14:56


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