Anti-government protests halt flights at Bangkok airport

ANTI-GOVERNMENT demonstrators swarmed Bangkok’s international airport late last night, halting departing flights, as opponents and supporters of Thailand’s government fought in the streets of the city.

Political tensions, simmering for two years, have boiled over in recent months, but yesterday’s violent confrontations in Bangkok — which saw protesters using slingshots, knives and gunfire on a busy street and tourists caught up in the airport chaos — marked a dramatic escalation.

Minutes after outbound flights at Suvarnabhumi International Airport were suspended, hundreds of demonstrators — some masked and armed with metal rods — broke through police lines and spilled into the passenger terminal.