Key leaves Thailand after protesters storm East Asia summit

John Key is leaving Thailand after security forces were unable to stop protesters from disrupting the East Asia Summit. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Prime Minister John Key is leaving Thailand after protesters cancelled the East Asia Summit by storming the conference venue.

A state of emergency has been declared in the Thai beach resort of Pattaya after security forces totally failed to prevent anti-government protesters brushing past them and through the media entrance to the conference centre.

Police, army and security forces seemed helpless or unwilling to stop the invasion as the protesters rushed through sending media and officials diving for cover.

After peacefully occupying the building for an hour, the sounds of helicopters ferrying Asean leaders away from Pattaya could be heard.

The protesters then left in a massive convoy chanting and blowing horns to celebrate their victory.

Earlier, Mr Key stopped his trip to Pattaya after landing in Bangkok, where he was advised there was no guarantee he could reach the summit venue or his hotel a few kilometres away from the Royal Cliff Beach Resort and associated conference centre.

Mr Key's spokesman said after the cancellation he was travelling to Hong Kong this afternoon to start the next leg of his trip to China two days early.

Mr Key is scheduled to meet Chinese leaders on Tuesday and Wednesday.

There had been clashes between supporters of the government - clad in blue shirts - and those who backed the former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra all day around Pattaya.

Mr Key was due to attend functions this evening and then attend the East Asian Summit tomorrow.

Thailand had been hosting meetings between Asean leaders and other countries such as China before the event was disrupted.

Earlier today, protesters easily made it to the entrance after yesterday working their way around blockades to the summit's venue.

Within hours they were at the doors and moments later crashed their way through an army line, smashing a glass door, and entered the centre.

After watching impotently the army then marched away from the centre to a nearby garden area, leaving the protesters free access to the summit area.

There was little damage and no violence.

Further away from the venue there were clashes between the blue protesters with both sides accusing the other of using weapons.

A spokeswoman for the red protesters - who operate under the umbrella of the Democratic Alliance Against Democracy (DAAD) - told the media that they were the victims and that shots had been fired at them.

"We came without weapons and they came with them," she said showing Molotov cocktails and other improvised weapons.

She accused the blue protesters of being state sponsored thugs, however government leaning news organisations said they were ordinary people angry with the actions of DAAD and blamed the red shirts.

A government spokesman said the protesters had said they would not disrupt the meetings, but they had.

After the invasion of the conference centre, a Government spokesman said there would be a crack down, but there was little sign of that yet happening.

Yesterday the numbers of anti-government demonstrators was put at about 5000, but those numbers have swollen today with convoys of taxis and buses of people who earlier managed to bring the Thai capital of Bangkok to a halt.

Mr Thaksin, now in exile, was ousted in a 2006 coup. His reconstituted party regained power after elections, which sparked months of protests last year that closed airports in Bangkok, and forced the postponement of the scheduled summit until this weekend.

Now his supporters are demanding new elections and the return of the former prime minister.

- NZPA