More flight chaos as protesters storm Hong Kong airport again
● Lam says violence is pushing city down ‘path of no return’
stormed the departure area at Hong Kong’s airport yesterday, a day after they forced the busy transport hub to shut down entirely, in an escalating pro-democracy campaign.
More than 100 flights were cancelled as thousands of demonstrators occupied the main terminal for the fifth consecutive day, streaming into two arrivals halls and the departure area despite increased security measures intended to keep them out.
Passengers struggled to get past the sitting protesters and into the immigration section.
The airport shutdown added to what authorities said is already a major blow to the financial hub’s crucial tourism industry.
Analysts said it could make foreign investors think twice about setting up shop in Hong Kong, which has long prided itself as being Asia’s leading business city with convenient air links across the region.
The city’s leader, Carrie Lam, issued a fresh warning to demonstrators, saying violence during protests would push Hong Kong “down a path of no return”.
Some flights were able to take off early yesterday, relieving some of the pressure from Monday’s cancellation of more than 200 flights.
The central government in Beijing ominously described the protest movement as something approaching “terrorism” that posed an “existential threat” to locals.
Meanwhile paramilitary police were assembling across the border in the city of Shenzhen for exercises in what some saw as a threat to increase force against the mostly young protesters who have turned out in their thousands over the past ten weeks.
The demonstrators have shown no sign of letting up on their campaign to force Ms Lam’s pro-china admin protesters istration to respond to their demands.
They want her to quit and entirely scrap legislation that could have seen criminal suspects sent to mainland China to face torture and unfair or politically charged trials.
While Beijing tends to define terrorism widely, extending it to non-violent movements opposing government policies in minority regions such as Tibet and Xinjiang, the government’s use of the term in relation to Hong Kong raised the prospect of greater violence and the suspension of legal rights for those detained.
Demonstrators have in recent days focused on their demand for an independent inquiry into police abuse of power and negligence.
That followed reports and video footage of violent arrests and injuries sustained by protesters.
Some protesters have thrown bricks, eggs and flaming objects at police stations and officers said they arrested another 149 demonstrators over the weekend, taking the total to more than 700 since early June.
Ms Lam said dialogue would begin only when the violence stopped. She repeated her support for the police and said they had to make on-the-spot decisions under difficult circumstances, using “the lowest level of force”.
She added: “After the violence has been stopped, and the chaotic situation that we are seeing could subside, I as the chief executive will be responsible to rebuild Hong Kong’s economy ... to help Hong Kong to move on.”
However, she did not elaborate on what steps her government would take towards reconciliation.
Adding to the protesters’ anger, Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways told employees that it has a “zero tolerance” for employees joining “illegal protests” and warned violators could be sacked.
Kerry Dickinson, a traveller from South Africa, said she had trouble getting her luggage. “I don’t think I will ever fly to Hong Kong again,” she said.