Protesters shut Thailand's international airport; 4 explosions injure 6

The airport takeover was one of the boldest gambles yet by the People's Alliance for Democracy in its four-month campaign to topple Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, whom it accuses of being the puppet of a disgraced fugitive predecessor, billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra.

Exhausted travelers tried to sleep on suitcases, on luggage carts, on security conveyer belts, behind vacated check-in counters. Protesters dressed in yellow shirts walked around distributing food, ham sandwiches and packets of rice.

"We'd rather they just go home so we can go home," said Kay Spitler, 58, from Glendale, Arizona.

Cheryl Turner, 63, of Scottsdale, Arizona, needed to get home to cook a feast for her family Thursday for the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving. She said she had instructed her neighbors to pull a turkey from her freezer a day ahead of time.

"My turkey is sitting in the sink at home," she said.

The alliance vowed to bring its campaign to a final showdown this week, and violence has spiked, including streets clashes between supporters and opponents of the government Tuesday that included the first open use of firearms by the anti-government protesters. Police said 11 government supporters were injured, some with gunshot wounds.

Early Wednesday, assailants threw four explosives at anti-government protesters, including one targeting a group about a half-mile (1 kilometer) from Bangkok's main international Suvarnabhumi Airport.

A second was tossed into a crowd of supporters gathered at the domestic Don Muang airport, injuring three others, police said. Two other explosives were thrown in Bangkok but no one was injured.

Demonstrators - some masked and armed with metal rods - swarmed the international airport overnight, breaking through police lines and spilling into the passenger terminal.

The airport was fully shut down early Wednesday, resulting in 292 flights being canceled between 10 p.m. Tuesday and 6 p.m. Wednesday, with thousands of travelers stranded in airports in Thailand and elsewhere around the world.

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