PAD ENDS BANGKOK AIRPORT PROTESTS
Tuesday, after Thailand's Constitutional Court banned Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat from politics and dissolved his party, thousands of yellow-shirted protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) ended an eight-day blockade of Suvarnabhumi International Airport. Protesters had shut down airports and taken over the prime minister's office in a six-month campaign to bring down the government, which they say is a corrupt proxy of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra. The crisis has had a severe economic impact, underscored by a dramatic 1 percent cut by the country's central bank in its main interest rate. Read analysis of the situation on the ground and a postcard from a stranded Asia Foundation traveler on our blog.
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