A China Eastern Airbus-300 arrives at the Utapao Airport near Pattaya, about 150 km east of Bangkok, capital of Thailand, Nov. 29, 2008. Chinese aviation authorities were sending 5 planes on Saturday to Thailand to bring home the remaining stranded Chinese tourists after the closure of the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BANGKOK, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- The first Chinese charter plane organized by Chinese government landed Saturday afternoon at U-Tapao airport, some 180 kilometers from Bangkok to bring back home Chinese tourists stranded in Bangkok due to anti-government protestors' siege of the two Bangkok airports.

    The first flight from China Eastern Airlines, a A300 airplane, arrived at about 4:30 p.m. local time (0930GMT) at the small and crowded military airport to board 261 passengers back to Shanghai. It will be followed by four other charter planes, from the China International Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines.

    The five planes will take the first batch of some 1,400 stranded Chinese back to Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai, hopefully to take off on late Saturday.

Chinese tourists, once stranded after the closure of airports in Bangkok, arrive at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, in Shanghai, on Nov. 29, 2008. The 46 tourists returned to Shanghai on Saturday aboard a Dragonair flight. They had to drive to Phuket island, more than 1,000 km south of Bangkok, to be flown to Hong Kong and then the Chinese mainland.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Chinese Ambassador to Thailand Zhang Jiuhuan, who arrived at the airport to receive the first flight, said that the Chinese government has arranged the second batch of planes to fly to Thailand on Sunday.

    At the airport, which the Thai government made a make-shift international air departing port, over 10,000 passengers flooded into the airport since the morning, causing heavy traffic jam on ways from Bangkok towards the airport.

    Nearly 100,000 passengers have missed flights since People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protestors besieged and shut down Bangkok's two main airports Suvarnabhumi International Airport and Don Mueang domestic airport on Tuesday. The total number of the affected travelers could hit 300,000 as the two airports remained closed, Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsurat said Saturday.

    The total of stranded Chinese, including those from Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, was estimated at about 4,000, according to the Chinese Embassy here.

Thai police chief removed

     BANGKOK, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Police Commissioner-General Pol. Gen. Phatcharawat Wongsuwan was Friday removed as the national police chief and seconded to an inactive post at the PM's Office.

    The government appointed police inspector-general Pol Gen Prateep Tanprasert as caretaker police commissioner-general. Full story
 
Atmosphere tense in Bangkok, but no action taken after emergency decree imposed

    BANGKOK, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- The atmosphere on Friday morning was tense in Bangkok, especially at the two airports hijacked by anti-government protesters, after the government declared a state of emergency at the airports.

    In early hours of Friday, two M79 grenades were lodged at the head office of satellite TV station ASTV, the mouthpiece of anti-government movement People's Alliance for Democracy.  Full story

Thai PM declares state of emergency at two Bangkok airports

Anti-government protestors stand guard at a check-point leading towards Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport Nov. 27, 2008. Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat Thursday evening declared state of emergency over two Bangkok airports -- the Suvarnabhumi International Airport and DonMueang Airport, which were paralyzed since besieged by anti-government protesters on Tuesday night.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

BANGKOK, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat Thursday evening declared state of emergency over two Bangkok airports -- the Suvarnabhumi International Airport and DonMueang Airport, which were paralyzed since besieged by anti-government protesters on Tuesday night.

Somchai delivered a national TV speech from northern province Chiang Mai, which started at 9:00 p.m. (1400 GMT) Thursday to announce the emergency decree as the besiege of anti-government protesters have caused great loss to the many industries in the country, including goods export and tourism, which amounts to some 100 billion Thai Baht (2.86 billion U.S. dollars) per day. Full story