Thailand’s People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) movement has said it is to end its blockade of Bangkok’s airports tomorrow and halt all rallies.
The cessation follows a court ruling this morning that banned prime minister Somchai Wongsawat from politics for five years and ordered his People Power Party to be disbanded.
PAD leader Sondhi Limthongkul said the blockade of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports, which have left hundreds of thousands of tourists stranded, would end tomorrow morning.
He also called a conditional halt to the PAD's political rallies.
“We have gained our victory already,” Mr Limthongkul said at a press conference in Bangkok. “If there is something wrong, we will mobilise people and stage another protest.”
Around 250,000 foreign tourists – including 250 Irish people - have been stranded by the week-long sit-ins at Don Muang and the bigger Suvarnabhumi international airport.
Acting president for Airports of Thailand Serirat Prasutanond said passenger flights could resume out of Suvarnabhumi by Friday.
The PAD invaded Bangkok's two main airports last week in a "final battle" to topple Mr Somchai. The PAD had refused to negotiate until Mr Somchai steps down. They accuse him of being a puppet of his brother-in-law, ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Earlier today, members of Mr Somchai's party vowed to "move on" and vote for a new prime minister on December 8th, setting the stage for another flashpoint in Thailand's three-year old political crisis.
First deputy prime minister Chavarat Charnvirakul would take over as interim prime minister, a government spokesman said.
The Constitutional Court also disbanded two other parties in Mr Somchai's six-party coalition for vote fraud in the 2007 general election and barred their leaders from politics for five years.
Hours before the court decisions, one person was killed and 22 wounded after a grenade was fired at protesters besieging the domestic Don Muang airport.
Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has intervened in previous political crises during his six decades on the throne, made no mention of the country's current troubles during a short speech at a Trooping the Colour military parade in Bangkok.
The annual ceremony, in which the king speaks about the need for military probity, was a picture of tradition and serenity in marked contrast to the chaos elsewhere in Bangkok.
Agencies