Protesters occupy Hong Kong airport as demonstrations enter their 10th weekend

Hundreds of pro-democracy activists began on Friday what is intended to be a three-day occupation of Hong Kong’s international airport, part of a series of demonstrations marking the 10th straight weekend of protests across the Asian financial hub.

Chanting “Hong Kong people, add oil,” and carrying signs such as “all you can eat tear gas available in 13 districts,” protesters gathered from midday Friday in the arrivals hall of the airport’s main terminal.

The move is the latest challenge to the government’s apparent strategy of waiting out the ongoing political crisis and comes just days after a citywide strike shut down flights and trains, causing travel chaos. The crowd at the airport, which appeared to number in the high hundreds, included many older Hong Kongers, in contrast to the young people who have been at the forefront of recent street battles with police.

Protesters held signs in English and Chinese and had printed leaflets in multiple languages explaining the causes and demands of the demonstrations for arriving tourists.

Hong Kong’s airport is one of the busiest in the world, handling 1,100 passenger and cargo flights daily, with services between the city and about 200 international destinations.

In a statement, the city’s Airport Authority said that additional security would be deployed on site Friday to assist passengers and airport staff. In order to minimize disruption to flights, only departing passengers with valid tickets or boarding passes and travel documents would be allowed to enter to the check-in aisles at Terminal 1, said the statement.

On Thursday China issued a ban on staff from Cathay Pacific who have participated in and supported the Hong Kong protests, according to a statement published on China’s Civil Aviation Administration’s website.

It said that from midnight on Saturday, Hong Kong’s flagship airline “must stop all those who have participated in and those who support the illegal demonstrations, protests and violent attacks, as well as those who have had radical behaviors, from executing all flights to and from the mainland.”