BANGKOK, Thailand (2 Dec 2008) — About 350,000 passengers, including 100,000 foreign tourists – at least 7,000 of them British – are believed to be stuck in Bangkok. Some cargo flights left the capital yesterday but the first passenger services – to Rome and Sydney – are not due to leave until Friday. Tourists have been unable to leave the country since supporters of the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) seized Bangkok's airports last week, saying they would not move until the government stood down. On Tuesday, Thailand's constitutional court dissolved the ruling party and banned Somchai Wongsawat, the prime minister, from office for five years. In response, the PAD said it would clear the airports. However, it was likely to take several days for a normal service to be resumed. "It is good news but we are quite half-hearted about it," said Felicity Hunt, 22, from London, who has been stranded with three friends since last week. "Until we are out of the country we won't really believe that we can get to the airport and leave. "I still think it is going to be absolute mayhem. We just want to get home." Officials say it could take several days to check computer and security systems before restoring normal service. Serirat Prasutanond, the acting head of Airports of Thailand, said: "By Wednesday afternoon, I should be able to issue a statement on when we return to normal." The British government has been criticised for not doing enough to help stranded holidaymakers. While the governments of France, Spain, China, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Vietnam sent special flights to evacuate their citizens from provincial airports, no flight has reached Britain since the crisis began. Bill Rammell, a Foreign Office minister, defended Britain's response yesterday. "What I'm looking for is a systematic not a symbolic solution. The only solution that will work is the commercial airlines providing additional flights from other airports," he said. Although air travel may now begin returning to normal, no one in Thailand believes that the political battle is over. | 
