BANGKOK, Nov 27: Thailand’s embattled premier on Thursday declared a state of emergency at Bangkok’s main airports, seeking to clear them of protesters as the country’s political crisis set off rumours of a coup.

Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat issued the order after an urgent cabinet meeting to discuss how to tackle anti-government demonstrators who have cut the city off from the world and left thousands of tourists stranded.

The military denied speculation it was about to oust Somchai, who has rejected a call by the powerful army chief to hold fresh elections, but the government still urged soldiers to remain in their barracks.

“It is wrong for protesters to take the entire Thai nation hostage,” Somchai said in a televised address to the nation.

“The government is not intending to hurt anybody but is just facilitating official works, and the emergency will be temporary,” he added.

Somchai called on the army to back up police in enforcing the state of emergency at Suvarnabhumi international airport and the old Don Mueang airport, which handles some domestic flights.

There was no immediate sign of any police operation at either airport.

Demonstrators brandishing golf clubs and sticks manned checkpoints on the road to Suvarnabhumi and set up coils of barbed wire, photographers said.

Police said around 10,000 protesters, all wearing yellow clothes which are supposed to be symbolic of their devotion to Thailand’s revered king, had set up camp inside the terminal.

The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protest movement, which seized control of Suvarnabhumi on Tuesday night and blockaded Don Mueang earlier on Thursday, swiftly vowed to defy the state of emergency.

“We are in the very, very final moment of our fight for democracy with the king at the head of state so I ask all the protesters not to panic,” Chamlong Srimuang, a key PAD leader, told protesters at government offices in central Bangkok which the movement has occupied since August.

A coalition backed by elements of the palace, the army and Thailand’s Bangkok-based elite, the PAD accuses the government elected last December of being a corrupt puppet for ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The military ousted Thaksin in a coup in 2006 after similar PAD protests, and as tensions rose Thursday the government insisted Somchai was not about to sack army commander General Anupong Paojinda.

“I would like to inform all military personnel to carry out your duty as usual. Do not make any movement or be on stand-by. This is to stop the coup rumours,” government spokesman Nattawut Saikaur said on national radio.

The army urged political reconciliation, saying it neither wanted to move against protesters at the two airports nor risk a confrontation with government supporters if it staged a coup.

“The military have moved tanks for strategic purposes but I can confirm that there is no coup and the military has not been ordered to be on stand-by,” Colonel Sunsern Kaewkumnerd said.

He said that the tanks had moved through an area of the capital near parliament as part of a display for army cadets.

PAD supporters effectively cut off Bangkok from the rest of the world when they blockaded Don Mueang airport.

Thai aviation authorities on Thursday gave airlines approval to use the U-Tapao naval base instead, saying several flights had already landed there including a Thai Airways flight from Los Angeles.

But Somchai said the losses from the closure of Suvarnabhumi alone would top 100 billion baht ($2.83 billion) a day. Airport authorities said it would remain closed until Saturday evening at the earliest.

As both sides refuse to back down, concerns deepened for the kingdom’s economy, tourism industry and diplomatic ties. Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, meanwhile, questioned whether Thailand could still hold the regional ASEAN summit in December.

Most of the 3,000 stranded passengers at Suvarnabhumi were bussed to hotels on Wednesday, and thousands of tourists are now trying to escape Thailand.

“I can’t wait for the airport to reopen any more. I have to find a way to get out of this country,” said one business traveller from the Philippines who had turned up at Suvarnabhumi Airport in the hope of getting a flight.—AFP