Angry demonstrators used burning barricades to block roads in an attempt to paralyse Hong Kong’s airport yesterday after a night of violence in which police responded to fire bombs with tear gas, batons and water cannon.
All transport links to and from the airport were cut off for hours, leaving travellers to arrive on foot as mass protests entered their 13th week. This morning police were deployed to the city’s railway stations to prevent disruption to commuter rail services.
The demonstrators hurled iron poles and bricks on to railway tracks and built barricades on motorways, causing hours of disruption. They fell short of shutting down the airport, one of the world’s busiest hubs, as Chinese state media warned “the end is coming” for protesters.
A court order and heavy police presence has stopped the demonstrators protesting inside the terminals, so the latest action marked a new tactic of “stress-testing” transit routes.
A large contingent of riot police advanced on the protesters before the roads began to clear. Many demonstrators retreated to Tung Chung, a subway three miles from the airport, where they built more barricades and forced the line to shut. Some of them burnt the Chinese flag. They dismantled surveillance cameras, damaged turnstiles in the station and spray-painted political slogans.
The protesters regard the airport as vitally important in getting their voices heard. Any shutdown or delay also damages Hong Kong’s reputation as a smooth-running business hub. The demonstrators show no sign of bowing to the wishes of the government. A general strike called by the territory’s main unions started last night.
At least four protesters were arrested at two commuter stations this morning as police sought to stop anyone from jamming train doors with umbrellas and backpacks.
Pupils formed human chains outside a number of government schools before classes began, some wearing gas masks, goggles and hard hats.
Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency, warned yesterday that “the end is coming for those attempting to disrupt Hong Kong and antagonise China”. In an editorial, it added that protesters were trying to challenge Beijing’s authority over Hong Kong before subverting the Chinese government on the mainland. John Lee, secretary of security for Hong Kong, called yesterday’s escalation “terrorism in nature”.
The Hong Kong office of the Chinese foreign ministry rejected calls for a truce by two US congressmen as “blatant interference in China’s internal affairs”.
Eliot Engel and Michael McCain, who serve on the House Foreign Affairs Commission, had urged Beijing to exercise restraint. In response, the ministry accused them of “ignoring the facts and confounding black and white with a malicious intent”.
At least 63 people were arrested — the youngest just 13 — on Saturday night after protesters gathered outside Mong Kok police station. Dozens were seized in Kowloon’s Prince Edward subway station, where footage showed police charging into the protesters swinging batons.
Activists had besieged police stations, blocked roads, vandalised public facilities — including a number of train stations — and hurled petrol bombs. “We’ve tried everything. We tried peaceful demonstrations many times. We’ve marched over and over. This is just another form of resistance,” said Anna Sze, 25, a marketer. “If we manage to disrupt the airport’s operations, we’ll count it as success.”
The protests, which began in early June against a controversial extradition bill, have morphed into a broad anti-government and pro-democracy movement to maintain the territory’s autonomy, posing the biggest challenge to Beijing since Hong Kong’s return from British rule in 1997.
Tensions rose sharply on Friday when Hong Kong police rounded up several prominent campaigners, including Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow of the political party Demosisto.
In contrast to the violence, a solemn demonstration took place yesterday outside the British Consulate in which several thousand people began a bid to have their citizenship recognised. Under fluttering Union flags and British Hong Kong flags they sang God Save the Queen and chanted “we are British”.
The Hong Kong (British Nationality) Order of 1986 stripped nearly three million people of British citizenship and created for them a British National (Overseas) category, under which they can visit the UK for up to six months at a time but may not study or work.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/protesters-battle-to-blockade-hong-kong-airport-t3rhq6s3k
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