Hong Kong protests – Chaos as activists burn barriers and shutdown train to airport leaving passengers stranded
VIOLENT clashes are continuing in Hong Kong, as protesters burn barricades and block roads amid anger over “police brutality”. Some enraged anti-government demonstrators also attacked a train station near the airport, using metal bars to smash lights and windows. Photos of the volatile scene show protesters – many hiding their faces behind masks – running […]
VIOLENT clashes are continuing in Hong Kong, as protesters burn barricades and block roads amid anger over “police brutality”.
Some enraged anti-government demonstrators also attacked a train station near the airport, using metal bars to smash lights and windows.
Photos of the volatile scene show protesters – many hiding their faces behind masks – running away from cops in riot gear, while flames leap from plastic barriers near the Tung Chung MTR station.
Thousands of protesters blocked roads and public transport links to the international airport on Sunday in a bid to draw world attention to their fight for democracy for the Chinese-ruled city.
Planes were taking off and landing, with delays, but trains were suspended and approach roads to the airport impassable.
Sky News correspondent Alex Crawford said there was a “huge amount of chaos”.
She said protesters had built barricades “all the way around the airport, shut down all the roads to the airport [and] drizzled… petrol along the road.
“The protesters have a great deal of anger following repeated claims of police brutality.”
POLICE WARNING
Taking to Twitter, Hong Kong Police warned demonstrators to “stop all illegal acts and leave immediately.
“At around 4pm, a large group hurled numerous iron poles, bricks and rocks into the track near the airport station.
“Some even trespassed on the track, seriously obstructing train services.
“Some radical [protesters have] blocked multiple roads in Tung Chung, set fire to barricades and a national flag. Such acts have paralysed traffic.
“Since around 5.30pm, some violent protesters have committed destructive acts extensively inside the Tung Chung MTR station.
“They dismantled CCTV cameras and turnstiles, smashed glass panes of a service centre and damaged fire facilities therein.”
The cops said that, in light of the “situation, the police will conduct a dispersal operation and warn all protesters to leave.”
Train and some bus service to the airport on the outlying island of Chek Lap Kok were suspended. Some passengers walked to the airport, one of Asia’s busiest, carrying their luggage.
3 MONTHS OF PROTESTS
Hong Kong has been the scene of tense anti-government protests for nearly three months now.
The demonstrations began in response to a proposed extradition law and have expanded to include other grievances and demands for more democracy and the resignation of the semiautonomous Chinese territory’s leader.
The protesters complain Beijing and the government of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam are eroding the autonomy and civil liberties promised when the former British colony was returned to China in 1997.
On Sunday, the MTR Corp. suspended train service to the airport after several hundred protesters gathered there following calls online to disrupt transportation.
They blocked buses arriving at the airport, but police in riot helmets kept them out of the terminal.
The government said some protesters threw objects at police. It also said iron poles, bricks and rocks were thrown onto tracks of the airport train.
After protesters began to stream away from the airport in the late afternoon, some attacked a train station in the adjacent Tung Chung area.
BARRICADES SET ALIGHT
They used metal bars to smash lights and broke open a fire hose valve, sending water gushing across the floor.
Demonstrators set up barricades on two adjacent streets and set fire to some of them – firefighters arrived a few minutes later to douse the blaze.
Protesters left the area after busloads of riot police in green fatigues with black helmets and riot shields flooded into the train station.
Today’s angry scenes followed a night of violent clashes between protesters and police.
On Saturday, protesters threw gasoline bombs at government headquarters. Cops stormed a subway car and hit passengers with clubs and pepper spray.
A total of 63 people were arrested at the Mong Kok, Yau Ma Tei and Prince Edward subway stations, the force said. The youngest was a 13-year-old boy accused of possessing two gasoline bombs.
What is happening in Hong Kong and why?
Protests have gripped Hong Kong since June 2019, sparked by highly controversial legislation.
If passed, the bill would give local authorities the right to detain and extradite people who are wanted in countries or territories Hong Kong does not have agreements with – which includes mainland China and Taiwan.
That bill has been shelved for now, but the protests have evolved against the government amid fears of the growing control of China’s Communist party.
Protesters also believe their leader should be elected in a more democratic way that reflects the preference of the voters.
The chief executive, Carrie Lam, is currently elected by a 1,200-member election committee – a mostly pro-Beijing body chosen by just six per cent of eligible voters.
The protesters demands are the resignation of the city’s leader, Carrie Lam, an amnesty for those arrested and a permanent withdrawal of the bill.
Hong Kong, a former British colony in south eastern China, has long enjoyed a special status under the principal “one country, two systems”.
The Basic Law dictates it will retain its common law and capitalist system for 50 years after the handover in 1997.
Hong Kong handover
The British fought the war to preserve the right of the East India Company to sell opium into mainland China.
The establishment of the colony gave Britain control over a number of ports to which foreign merchants could deliver goods.
Britain obtained a 99-year lease for the territory in 1898, and relinquished control when that lease expired in 1997.
Hong Kong now operates as a semi-autonomous territory, with control over its own trade, tax, and immigration policy.
Under the terms of the 1997 handover, that status is protected until 2047.
What happens after then is currently undecided, but opponents of the Beijing government fear that China will seek to gain control of the territory.
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