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<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/18588?ns=guardian&pageName=World+news%3A+Thai+anti-government+protesters+defy+police+warning+to+leave+airports&ch=World+news&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Thailand+%28News%29%2CWorld+news&c5=Not+commercially+useful&c6=Ian+MacKinnon&c7=2008_12_01&c8=1126671&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=World+news&c12=Thailand&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FThailand" width="1" height="1" /></div>Police in Thailand ordered protesters to leave Bangkok's two airports yesterday, and allow more than 160,000 stranded travellers to fly home.But the authorities showed little sign that they were about to move in forcefully to take control of the airports, which have been closed for six days amid mounting frustration of foreign governments concerned over their nationals.The rising alarm came as more than 10,000 of the beleaguered government's supporters gathered for a mass rally in Bangkok, leading to a fear of clashes with their rivals holding the airports and the prime minister's Government House headquarters.Fifty-one anti-government protesters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) were wounded - four of them seriously - when a grenade exploded in the early yesterday at Government House.Some foreign governments sent emergency planes to rescue their citizens, while airlines put on 60 special flights to a tiny Vietnam war-era airbase 90 miles south-east of Bangkok. Australia's foreign minister, Stephen Smith, expressed dismay at Thailand's inability to evacuate his nationals. "It's frustrating for us and ... for stranded Australians. Some are becoming increasingly distressed," he said.The deepening crisis has left the prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat, powerless and isolated, governing from the northern city of Chiang Mai for fear of a coup. It has also left businesses, the tourist industry in particular, reeling.Even efforts by the airports authority to negotiate with the protesters occupying Suvarnabhumi - Thailand's main international airport - to allow 88 trapped aircraft to fly out empty were rebuffed.Last night it emerged that triple Olympic gold medallist Chris Hoy had been in Thailand on holiday and become one of the thousands of Britons stranded, but managed to get out.Hoy managed to get a flight out from Phuket - thanks to his long-standing links with global parcel delivery company DHL, The Scotsman reported.Hoy's agent Ricky Cowan said the 32-year-old athlete and his girlfriend had been able to fly out "avoiding the Bangkok airport altogether".The alliance demonstrators are demanding the prime minister step down, They invaded the international airport last Tuesday in their most audacious act in months of protests, and a day later seized the domestic hub at Don Muang, in effect cutting off the Thai capital.Attempts by police to take back Suvarnabhumi, which handles 700 flights and 125,000 passengers every day, appeared half-hearted, even after the sacking of the national police chief.But yesterday the police issued an ultimatum, banning gatherings of more than five people and warning that offenders would be imprisoned or fined.<div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/thailand">Thailand</a></li></ul></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
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