The political turmoil in Thailand, while always at a knife-edge, was brought to the absolute extreme when a Thai court dissolved the ruling party.
Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat was also banned from politics in the process.
Observers fear that the ruling may spark a civil war in the country, which has been dealing with constant public protests and violence for the past year.
36 other People Power Party executives were also banned from politics for a term of five years.
The ruling however will bring an end to the public demonstrations by the People's Alliance for Democracy, who constructed a blockade at all major airports in Thailand.
350,000 passengers were stranded as a result of the blockade and the Thailand economy has been weakened severely as a result. Hours after the ruling, the PAD announced the blockades would end, allowing passengers to catch international flights to Rome and Sydney this Friday.
Airport authority chairman Vudhibhandhu Vichairatana said the closure had cost the airport US $10 million.
Somchai, the brother-in-law of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was convicted on corruption charges last month, was accused of acting as a proxy for Thaksin and being hostile to the widely revered monarchy in Thailand.
Source: The Australian