Suvarnabhumi airport has set aside its long-term parking area to host around 1,000 farmers coming to Bangkok to demand rice-pledging payments from the caretaker government.
Farmers reach Ayutthaya on Thursday on their way to Bangkok. They want the caretaker government to pay them for produce sold into the state rice-pledging scheme. (Photo by Pattanapong Hirunard)
The farmers are travelling to the capital in a convoy of about 400 e-taen farm trucks, 10 ten-wheel trucks, 12 six-wheel trucks, 50 pick-up trucks and about 150 motorcycles.
They left Uthai Thani and Nakhon Sawan provinces on Wednesday and stopped overnight in Sing Buri before continuing their journey, with farmers from Ang Thong and Ayutthaya joining them along the way.
The farmers spent last night at In Buri district of Sing Buri. When they set off this morning, they brought traffic on Highway 333 to a virtual halt.
Chada Thaiseth, a former Chartthaipattana Party MP for Uthai Thani who is leading the convoy, announced that the farmers would detour to Suvarnabhumi on the eastern side of the capital, despite being en route to enter the city from the north. He did not explain why the group was planning to go to the airport.
Rice farmers from Uthai Thani and Nakhon Sawan stopped overnight in Sing Buri on Wednesday before continuing their journey to Bangkok.(Photo by Pongpat Wongyala)
But their plan has prompted swift action from Suvarnabhumi and Airports of Thailand (AoT) officials, who hastily arranged measures to cope with the visitors.
AoT chairman Sqn Ldr Sita Divari asked the farmers not to allow Suvarnabhumi to be dragged into conflicts between themselves and the caretaker government, pleading with the growers not to close the airport.
''Please don't block the airport to pressure the government. If protesting farmers come, I will give them a wai and ask them not to do that,'' he said.
AoT president Makin Petplai and Suvarnabhumi general manager Rawewan Netrakavesna took a practical approach, saying that the airport has set aside the long-term parking area to the east of the airport for the farmers to use. ''Drinking water will be provided for them,'' Mrs Rawewan said.
AoT officials held talks on Thursday to assess the situation and were in close contact with police monitoring the route of the farmers' convoy.
Mr Makin said the airport will continue to run services as normal and will negotiate with farmers to ensure that flights will not be disrupted.
Mr Chada said he was leading the growers to fulfil his promise to take them to Bangkok if the caretaker government failed to pay them for their pledged rice by Jan 30. He said he had been contacted by the caretaker government to broker negotiations with the farmers.