Anti-government protesters gesture at police during clashes at the airport in Hong Kong, China August 13, 2019. — Reuters pic
HONG KONG, Aug 14 — Hong Kong's airport resumed operations today, rescheduling hundreds of flights that had been disrupted over the past two days as protesters clashed with riot police in a deepening crisis in the Chinese-controlled city.
Ten weeks of increasingly violent clashes between police and pro-democracy protesters, angered by a perceived erosion of freedoms, have plunged the Asian financial hub into its worst crisis since it reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997.
About 30 protesters remained at the airport early today while workers scrubbed it clean of blood and debris from overnight. Check-in counters reopened to queues of weary travellers who had waited overnight for their flights.
Police condemned violent acts by protesters overnight and said today a large group had "harassed and assaulted a visitor and a journalist." Five people were detained, bringing the total number of people arrested since the protests began in June to more than 600, police said.
Hong Kong's Airport Authority said yesterday operations at the city's international airport had been seriously disrupted, as riot police used pepper spray to disperse thousands of black-clad protesters.
The Hang Seng stock index fell to a seven-month low yesterday and embattled Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said the city had been pushed into a state of “panic and chaos.”
China condemned some protesters for using dangerous tools to attack police, saying the clashes showed “sprouts of terrorism.” The protests represent one of the biggest challenges for Chinese President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.
Demonstrators say they are fighting the erosion of the “one country, two systems” arrangement that enshrined some autonomy for Hong Kong when it returned to China in 1997.
The protests began in opposition to a now-suspended bill that would have allowed the extradition of suspects for trial in mainland China but have swelled into wider calls for democracy.
Check-in operations at the airport were suspended late yesterday afternoon, a day after an unprecedented shutdown. Thousands of peaceful protesters had swarmed the arrivals and departures halls earlier yesterday, chanting, singing and waving banners.
However, some protesters used luggage trolleys to blockade the doors to customs checkpoints. Protesters also scuffled with police later in the evening and several police vehicles were blocked amid heated scenes, according to Reuters witnesses.
Pushed into the abyss
A senior US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “Freedoms of expression and assembly are core values that we share with the people of Hong Kong and these freedoms should be protected.”
The United Nations human rights commissioner, Michele Bachelet, urged Hong Kong authorities to exercise restraint and investigate evidence of their forces firing tear gas at protesters in ways banned under international law.
China responded by saying her comments sent the wrong signal to “violent criminal offenders.”
Chief Executive Lam made an appeal for calm and restraint.
“Take a minute to look at our city, our home,” she said, her voice cracking, at a news conference in the newly-fortified government headquarters complex.
“Can we bear to push it into the abyss and see it smashed to pieces?” she said.
Demonstrators want Lam to resign. She says she will stay.
The events present Chinese President Xi Jinping with one of his biggest challenges since he came to power in 2012.
Hong Kong legal experts say Beijing might be paving the way to use anti-terrorism laws to try to quell the demonstrations.
Britain, a guarantor of the agreement that transferred Hong Kong to China in 1997, yesterday condemned the violence and urged dialogue.
“Concerning to see what's happening in Hong Kong and the worrying pictures of clashes between police & protesters at the airport,” foreign minister Dominic Raab said on Twitter.
China has denied a request for two US Navy ships to visit Hong Kong in the coming weeks, US officials said.
Angry passengers
“I think paralysing the airport will be effective in forcing Carrie Lam to respond to us ... it can further pressure Hong Kong's economy,” said Dorothy Cheng, a 17-year-old protester.
Despite the trouble, some flights were still scheduled to take off early this morning with some tourists still waiting in the departure hall and dining areas, according to Reuters journalists in the airport.
Some passengers challenged protesters over the delays as tempers began to fray.
Flag carrier Cathay Pacific said flights might still be cancelled at short notice. The airline, whose British heritage makes it a symbol of Hong Kong's colonial past, is also in a political bind.
China's civil aviation regulator demanded that the airline suspend staff who joined or backed the protests from flights in its airspace, pushing the carrier's shares past Monday's 10-year low.
Other Chinese airlines have offered passengers wanting to avoid Hong Kong a free switch to nearby destinations, such as Guangzhou, Macau, Shenzhen or Zhuhai, with the disruption sending shares in Shenzhen Airport Co Ltd surging. — Reuters