BANGKOK Anti-government protesters lifted their siege of Bangkok`s two airports Wednesday while the ousted government`s leaders were meeting to decide on a caretaker prime minister to lead the politically chaotic kingdom, AP reported.

The country`s immediate crisis, which virtually severed Thailand`s air links to the outside world for a week, appeared to be over and the People`s Alliance for Democracy said it was ending six months of daily anti-government protests. But the alliance warned it would be on the streets again if a new government tried to return to its past policies.

A court decision Tuesday forced the country`s prime minister from office and disbanded the three top ruling coalition parties. But they quickly were reconstituted under different guises and leaders met Wednesday to choose a caretaker prime minister before reconvening Parliament.

A spokesman for the protest alliance, Parnthep Wonguapan, said protesters at Bangkok`s international and domestic airports have been ordered to `clean up and pack their belongings` before leaving the two sites at 10 a.m. (0300 GMT).

`We want to clean up the airport before we leave. We want PAD (the alliance) to have a good image,` said Bow Piyapat, a souvenir maker, as she wielded her mop around rows of check-in counters at the Suvarnabhumi international airport.

But the image of the alliance as well as Thailand in general has taken a bad battering, especially among some 300,000 travellers still stranded by last week`s airport takeovers. The months of protests and political uncertainty is also hammering the economy and vital tourism industry.

At least six people have been killed and scores injured in clashes in recent months.

The protesters - who seek to eliminate the one-person, one-vote system - are also seeking to purge the nation of the influence of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. They accuse Thaksin of massive corruption and seeking to undermine the country`s revered constitutional monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Thaksin was ousted by a September 2006 military coup, but the alliance alleges that governments voted into office since then have been proxies for the exiled Thaksin.

`The PAD will return if another (Thaksin) proxy government is formed or anyone tries to amend the constitution or the law to whitewash some politicians or to subdue the monarch`s royal authority,` one of the protest leaders, Sondhi Limthongkul, warned Tuesday night.

But none of that seemed to matter Tuesday as members of the alliance revelled at the fall of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat.

`We will party all night long before leaving tomorrow,` said Saisuri Pantupradij, a 45-year-old woman who camped out at Bangkok`s Suvarnabhumi international airport. `It`s sad to say goodbye, but our job here is done. So we must go home.`

She and four other women, all wearing yellow feather boas, were dancing and singing karaoke to a Thai folk song in the main hall of the airport terminal. Around them, thousands celebrated, waving Thailand`s red white and blue flag, and cheering their nation, their king and themselves.

The country`s Constitutional Court found Somchai`s People`s Power Party, the Machima Thipatai party and the Chart Thai party guilty of committing fraud in the December 2007 elections that brought the coalition to power.

`Dishonest political parties undermine Thailand`s democratic system,` said Constitutional Court President Chat Chalavorn.

The ruling sent Somchai, Thaksin`s brother-in-law, and 59 executives of the three parties into political exile, barring them from politics for five years. Of the 59, 24 are lawmakers who will have to abandon their parliamentary seats.

`It is not a problem. I was not working for myself. Now I will be a full-time citizen,` Somchai told reporters following the ruling.

Government spokeswoman Suparak Nakboonnam said Deputy Prime Minister Chaowarat Chandeerakul automatically took over Somchai`s job pending selection of a care taker prime minister. She said Parliament would have to endorse the pick within 30 days.

A meeting Wednesday among the three ousted parties, which vowed to stick together in a coalition, was being held in a northern Bangkok suburb and it was unclear when they would decide on the caretaker prime minister.

Somchai had become increasingly isolated in recent weeks. Neither the army, a key player in Thai politics, nor King Bhumibol offered firm backing. Palace circles have not hidden their enmity toward Thaksin and his allies, rattling a decades-old consensus of absolute respect for the monarchy.

The alliance often referred to by its acronym PAD, claims Thailand`s rural majority - who gave landslide election victories to the Thaksin camp - is too poorly educated to responsibly choose their representatives and says they are susceptible to vote buying.

It wants the country to abandon the system of one-person, one-vote, and instead have a mixed system in which most representatives are chosen by professionals.