Pressure built on Thailand's military to intervene in a political crisis threatening to descend into widespread civil unrest on Thursday after Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat rejected calls to quit. Local television said anti-government protesters continued to blockade Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport, the gateway into the country for 14.5 million visitors a year, and media said they had also taken over the old Don Muang airport, a big domestic hub.A rival pro-government group has threatened retaliation in the streets but Bangkok appeared calm early on Thursday. Media reported several small explosions during the night in the vicinity of Government House, the prime minister's compound that has been occupied by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) since August, but no injuries were reported. Speaking on national television late on Wednesday, Somchai said his government was democratically elected and would continue to work for the "good of the country" despite PAD claims it is the puppet of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Somchai, Thaksin's brother-in-law, is due to hold a cabinet meeting in the northern city of Chiang Mai on Thursday, at which he will consider unspecified "measures" against the PAD. His refusal to call a snap election, as army chief Anupong Paochinda said he should on Wednesday, intensified speculation of an imminent coup. Anupong has repeatedly said he would not take over, arguing the army is powerless to heal the fundamental political rifts between the Bangkok elite and middle classes who despise Thaksin, and the rural and urban poor who love him. But one military source said army, navy and air force top brass had been locked in talks late into the night, debating whether to launch a coup, two years after the removal of Thaksin. There were signs that the latest upsurge in violence could backfire against the PAD, with newspapers that have shown some indulgence in the past appalled by the airport disruption. "This is not civil disobedience. It's the PAD holding travelers hostage," the Nation said in an editorial. "With the military caught in the middle and reluctant to use force either to end the airport blockade or remove the current government, Somchai Wongsawat's administration is looking like a bigger lame duck by the hour," it said.