Thai airports reopen after week of protest

BANGKOK, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Bangkok's two airports resumed operations Wednesday after Thai anti-government protesters ended a weeklong occupation, officials said.

A court order dissolving the current ruling government coalition reportedly cleared the way for an end to the takeover.

The protest at the domestic Don Muang and the international Suvarnabhumi airports stranded tens of thousands of passengers and seriously affected Thailand's tourism business, The New York Times said.

The People's Alliance for Democracy called off the takeover after the Constitution Court dissolved Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat's People Power Party and its coalition partners for election fraud in the December 2007 balloting.

Meanwhile, party members in Somchai's coalition were reported collecting signatures of lawmakers in an effort to open an extraordinary parliamentary session to select a new prime minister.

Protests against the current government have continued since August. The protesters say Somchai was only heading a proxy government for his brother-in-law and former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup.

The court ruling would also require Somchai to leave office and ban his party and its coalition partners from politics for five years, the Thai News Agency said.