Fresh violence erupted in Bangkok early this morning after the Prime Minister rejected the army chief’s demand that he should resign and call fresh elections and anti-government protesters occupied another airport.

Somchai Wongsawat, the Prime Minister, returned from an international summit last night to a nation convulsed by protests but said that he would continue to work “for the good of the country”.

The violence spread as a mob of government loyalists shot and killed a man in the northern city of Chiang Mai shortly after Mr Somchai landed at the airport there. The dead man was said to be an anti-government activist. Protesters from the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) seized Bangkok’s international airport on Tuesday, halting international flights and forcing Mr Somchai to land at the northern airport.

There was a tense stand-off as the anti-government protesters, clad in yellow T-shirts, ignored army calls to end their blockade of the airport, the region’s busiest and gateway to the popular holiday destination for millions of foreign tourists.

Protesters later also barricaded Bangkok’s older Don Mueng airport, forcing the suspension of domestic flights. Shooting was reported outside Government House.

Earlier in the day, General Anupong Paochinda demanded that the PAD supporters should end their protests and urged Mr Somchai to dissolve the Government and call new elections. “We will send [the Prime Minister] a letter to inform him that he must dissolve the House and call new elections,” he said after a crisis meeting of military and business leaders.

But General Anupong insisted that there would be no coup. “The Government still has full authority,” he said, before adding ominously: “As army chief, if I launch a coup the problems would be solved once and for all. But there would be a lot of consequences, including the international reaction.”

Thailand has, in the past, suffered a series of military coups and uprisings against civilian governments. In a televised address, Mr Somchai said that he would hold an emergency meeting of the Cabinet today to discuss “measures” to deal with protesters who have broken the law, but he said there would be no election.

“I reassure the people that this Government, which is legitimate and came from elections, will keep functioning until the end. My position is not important. But democratic values are,” he said.

The anti-government demonstrators — who are fiercely royalist, largely middle-class and want a restriction on voting rights for the rural population — have sworn to continue agitating until the Government falls.

Fresh elections would go some way towards appeasing them.

Senior members of the ruling People Power Party were reported to be urging Mr Somchai to sack General Anupong and called for a massive pro-government rally to be held today.

At the airport, thousands of protesters settled down for the night near check-in counters usually busy with up to 70 flights a day. Few of the protesters that The Times spoke to expected an offensive last night. They said that there were too many demonstrators packing the terminal, meaning that the danger of bloodshed would be too high for a risk-averse military.

But Thailand cannot afford to let the paralysis of the international airport drag on. Every day that flights are suspended, the country loses tourist income that is worth £10.4 billion a year. Dislodging the protesters will not be easy. The approaches to the terminal were blocked last night by barriers of cars, lorries, trolleys and razorwire.

Twelve-hour wait? No problem for a London bus driver

The last of the Britons to leave Bangkok's international airport yesterday evening were reluctant to condemn the anti-government protesters who had brought to a halt one of the region's biggest transport hubs (Sîan Powell writes).

Stephen Robinson, a London bus driver, had been holidaying for a month in the east of the country with his Thai wife and ten-year-old son. He arrived at the airport at 7am, leaving his family in the countryside for an extended holiday.

Twelve hours later he was still at the airport. “Coming from London you take it on the chin, don't you?” he said. “It's only the lack of information that's a problem.”

Lisa Taylor, 23, a student from Oxford, had been en route to Hong Kong to see a friend before returning to Britain when she arrived by train from the northern city of Chiang Mai early in the morning. Ten hours later, she was huddled with a last forlorn group of tourists, all desperately seeking a way out of the airport.

Even so, she had sympathetic words for the protesters. “They're coming round, they're apologising, they're giving us food and water. In the absence of help from the airlines, that's something. After all, this isn't a contingency you would expect,” she said.

As dusk fell in Bangkok the last tourists were ushered out and sent on their way to comfortable hotel beds - apparently courtesy of the Thai Government.

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