Bangkok – Thai police on Tuesday arrested a leader of the protest movement that seized Bangkok’s two airports in 2008, costing the country billions of dollars in lost tourism and trade revenue.

Chaiwat Sinsuwong, a former leader of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), was arrested while eating lunch at a Bangkok supermarket on charges of illegally occupying Suvarnabhumi International Airport and Don Mueang Airport from November 27 to December 3, 2008.

The PAD, also called the yellow shirts for the colour of its protest apparel, held street protests for seven months in Bangkok to try to topple the then-government, led by the People’s Power Party. The party was openly supportive of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup.

-TN