protesters celebrated after Thailand's Constitutional Demonstrators said they would end their siege at Bangkok's major airport after Thailand's top court banned the prime minister from public office for five years and dissolved his ruling party after finding it committed electoral fraud.
The decision, which effectively dissolves Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat's government, follows months of opposition protests in Bangkok that have driven government officials from their offices and shut down the city's major airport for a week.
The Consitutional Court also banned at least one of the People Power Party's ruling coalition partners, effectively dismantling the government over allegations of vote-rigging.
Protesters said the siege of the airport would end on Wednesday morning. Passenger flights remained grounded, but cargo, military and emergency flights had resumed by Tuesday afternoon at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi international airport, spokeswoman Monrudee Kettuphan said.
Members of the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy, occupying Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi international airport, cheered and hugged on hearing the news.
"My heart is happy. My friends are very happy," Pailin Jampapong, a 41-year-old Bangkok housekeeper, told The Associated Press as she jumped up and down.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Somchai's supporters staged an angry counter-protest outside the court following the decision.
Jakrapob Penkair, a Somchai ally and former government official, told CNN a deputy prime minister from one of the remaining coalition parties would take over from Somchai until the parliament could approve a new government.
"The PPP is a responsible party," he said. "Our government and the people have been concerned with the country before ourselves." Demonstrators have occupied Thailand's Government House since August, forcing lawmakers to meet elsewhere. They said Monday that they would end the sit-in and move to Suvarnabhumi airport, where they have left flights grounded and countless passengers stranded since November 25.
BoG's $260 million building: It was Ato Forson who first proposed 'sell-and-leas...
'We have to do soul-searching' — Mahama orders nationwide flood assessment
Court orders woman beater to pay GHS5,000 compensation to midwife at Tema Commun...
Over 12,000 women living with obstetric fistula in Ghana — Asokwa MP
Mahama secures 1,840 farm equipment deal from Belarus
Titus Glover slams Mahama’s flood report directive, calls it “waste of energy an...
We have increased posting of doctors from 12 to 100 to underserved regions in 20...
'You had the effrontery to call me struggling lawyer, you won't come back to pow...
Belarus manufacturers to storm Ghana next week after President's visit
Government to offer tax incentives for factories located outside Accra
