Cathay Pacific sacks staff who joined Hong Kong protests Move follows pressure from China on flagship airline and other businesses

Cathay Pacific fired two airport employees and suspended a pilot for conduct linked to antigovernment protests as China stepped up its efforts to pull Hong Kong business into line over the increasingly angry demonstrations.

Hong Kong’s flagship carrier said at the weekend it would comply with a directive from China’s aviation authority that included an order to take workers off flights to China if they had participated in illegal demonstrations that have

gone on for 10 weeks.

The regulator’s move was the starkest sign yet of Beijing’s growing readiness to make high-profile businesses choose between incurring the wrath of either Hong Kong staff and protesters or Beijing and customers in mainland China.

Some of Hong Kong’s largest property tycoons signed a petition published over the weekend in local newspapers arguing that the unrest in the region must not continue and voicing support for the territory’s chief executive Carrie Lam.

Police fired tear gas into a subway station on Sunday night after clashes with protesters continued through the weekend. Demonstrators’ tactics have evolved into unpredictable catand-mouse confrontations with police at venues across the city.

China also lashed out at the UK’S foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, after he spoke to Ms Lam about the protests and called for a “fully independent investigation” to rebuild trust. “It is simply wrong for the British government to directly call Hong Kong’s chief executive to exert pressure,” said a spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry.