Tension Builds in Bangkok Standoff

Police built a huge cordon around Thailand’s main airport today, fueling fears of a confrontation between the government and protesters who have occupied it since Tuesday, the AP reports. Some 2,000 police surrounded demonstrators at Suvarnabhumi airport, where all flights have been grounded, leaving 100,000 tourists stranded. After a series of escalating warnings to disband, the government says it will “take action.”

“If they come to kill us, we will just put our hands together and stay here. We are all willing to die,” said one member of the People’s Alliance for Democracy, which is demanding the resignation of the prime minister. While authorities have blocked off some routes to the airport, others are controlled by the protesters themselves, who have built checkpoints where they search passing cars for weapons, Reuters reports. “We just want the protest to stay safe,” said one.
(More Thailand stories.)