Hong Kong airport protest: all outbound flights cancelled as demonstrators barricade departure terminals

Charlotte Carter13 August 2019

All flights out of Hong Kong airport have been cancelled after anti-government campaigners took over the terminal.

The airport authority announced at 4:30pm local time on Tuesday that check-in services for departing flights were suspended, as thousands of black-clad protesters jammed the terminal, chanting and singing while waving placards.

It is the second day of disruption for the airport, which cancelled all its more than 200 flights on Monday afternoon, after the protesters flooded the busy transport hub.

Other departing flights that have completed the process will continue to operate, it said.

Officials said it did not expect inbound flights to be affected, though dozens were cancelled.

Hong Kong airport cancels all flights after protesters flood terminal

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Hong Kong airport, one of the world's busiest airport hubs, handles 1,100 passenger and cargo flights daily, serving 200 international destinations.

The airport issued a statement advising people not to come to the airport.

Passengers have been forced to seek accommodation in the city while airlines struggle to find other ways to get them to their destinations

Videos have emerged showing protesters holding signs and barricading departure terminals with baggage trollies.

Among the protesters were people waving placards that read: "Sorry for the inconvenience, we are fighting for the future of our home."

Some passengers challenged protesters over the delays as tempers began to fray, while the demonstrators, using a Chinese term of encouragement, chanted, "Hong Kong people - add oil!"

Airline Cathay Pacific warned that there could be further disruption.

The protests are an escalation of a summer of demonstrations which began as opposition to a now-suspended bill that would have allowed suspects' extradition to mainland China.

They have swelled into wider calls for democracy, with demonstrators saying they are fighting the erosion of the "one country, two systems" arrangement that enshrined some autonomy for Hong Kong since China took it back from Britain in 1997.

As the protests continued, China's civil aviation regulator demanded it suspend staff who joined or backed the protests, pushing the airline's shares past Monday's 10-year low.

Meanwhile, paramilitary police were assembling across the border in the city of Shenzhen for exercises which some saw as a threat to increase force against the mostly young protesters who have turned out in their thousands over the past 10 weeks.

Police have arrested more than 700 protesters since early June and say they have infiltrated the ranks of the demonstrators, leading to concerns that officers were inciting violence.

Scores of people have been, both protesters and police, including a woman reported to have had an eye ruptured by a beanbag round fired by police during clashes on Sunday.

Anti-government protesters react after the announcement that all airport operations are suspended due to ongoing protests at Hong Kong Airport.
REUTERS

Police said they are investigating the incident, which protesters have taken up as a rallying cry. Some of those joining in the airport occupation wore gauze bandages dyed with artificial blood over one eye.

The United Nations' top human rights official condemned violence surrounding the protests and called on the authorities and protesters to settle their dispute peacefully.

Rupert Colville, spokesman for U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, said her office had reviewed evidence that police are using "less-lethal weapons in ways that are prohibited by international norms and standards."

Getty Images

That includes firing tear gas canisters into crowded, enclosed areas and directly at individual protesters, "creating a considerable risk of death or serious injury," Colville said in a statement Tuesday.

The commissioner urged both sides to engage in "open and inclusive dialogue," which is the "only sure way to achieve long-term political stability," it said.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said the instability, chaos and violence have placed the city on a "path of no return."

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