Hong Kong airport has cancelled all
remaining flights for a second day after protesters took over terminals.
The city’s leader Carrie Lam said the ongoing instability, chaos
and violence from pro-democracy protests have placed the city on a ‘path of no
return.’
A few thousand protesters gathered at the airport for a fifth day
after they forced the shutdown of the main terminal on Monday, leading to the
cancellation of more than 200 flights.
After filling up the arrivals hall, demonstrators began moving to
the departures area, despite increased security measures designed to keep them
out.
The black-clad protesters held up signs to appeal to travellers
from mainland China and other parts of the world reading: ‘Democracy is a good
thing’.
The central government in Beijing characterised the protest
movement as something approaching ‘terrorism’ that posed an ‘existential
threat’ to local citizens.
Meanwhile, paramilitary police have been assembling across the
border in the city of Shenzhen for exercises in what some saw as a threat to
increase force brought against the mostly young protesters who have turned out
in their thousands over the past 10 weeks.
The demonstrators have shown no sign of letting up on their
campaign to force Ms Lam’s administration to respond to their demands,
including that she step down and entirely scrap legislation that could have
seen criminal suspects sent to mainland China to face torture and unfair or
politically charged trials.
While Beijing tends to define terrorism broadly, extending it
especially to non-violent movements opposing government policies in minority
regions such as Tibet and Xinjiang, the government’s usage of the term in
relation to Hong Kong raised the prospect of greater violence and the possible
suspension of legal rights for those detained.
Demonstrators have in recent days focused on their demand for an
independent inquiry into what they call the police’s abuse of power and
negligence.
That followed reports and circulating video footage of violent
arrests and injuries sustained by protesters. Some protesters have thrown
bricks, eggs and flaming objects at police stations and police said they
arrested another 149 demonstrators over the weekend, bringing the total to more
than 700 since early June.
Police say several officers have suffered burns, bruises and eye
damage inflicted by protesters.
Ms Lam told reporters on Tuesday that dialogue would only begin
when the violence stopped.
She reiterated her support for the police and said they have had
to make on-the-spot decisions under difficult circumstances, using ‘the lowest
level of force’.
‘After the violence has been stopped, and the chaotic situation
that we are seeing could subside,’ Ms Lam said, ‘I as the chief executive will
be responsible to rebuild Hong Kong’s economy … to help Hong Kong to move on.’
She did not elaborate on what steps her government will take
toward reconciliation.
After two months, the protests have become increasingly divisive
and prompted clashes across the city.
Hong Kong was promised democratic rights not enjoyed in Communist
Party-ruled mainland China when Beijing took over what had been a British
colony in 1997, but some have accused Beijing of steadily eroding their freedoms.
Those doubts are fuelling the protests, which build on a previous
opposition movement that shut down much of the city for seven weeks in 2014
that eventually fizzled out and whose leaders have been imprisoned.
Source: Metro.co.uk
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