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Hong Kong protests: subway to airport shut down as activists out in force Hong Kong protests: subway to airport shut down as activists out in force
(32 minutes later)
Trains to Hong Kong’s international airport have been suspended as pro-democracy protesters threatened to disrupt transport links to the airport, the city’s subway operator said. Thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators swarmed the Hong Kong international airport on Sunday, blocking roads and filling a bus terminus, in the latest wave of political unrest to hit the city.
A notice at Mass Transit Railway stations said trains had been suspended “as requested by the Hong Kong government and airport authority to facilitate access control arrangements at the airport”. Less than 24 hours after protesters and police clashed in running battles on Saturday, demonstrators attempted to paralyse the airport, a major regional hub.
Demonstrators planned to choke travel routes to the airport on Sunday after a chaotic night of running battles between police and masked protesters, the latest wave of unrest to hit the Chinese-ruled city. Protesters were streaming toward the airport, blocking off a road leading to the departure hall. Outside the airport exits, protesters were dismantling fences and building barricades. Others faced down rows of police stationed at a bus terminus on the ground floor of the airport, chanting: “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution now!”
Activists urged the public to overwhelm road and rail links to the airport, one of the world’s busiest, on Sunday and Monday, potentially disrupting flights. People began begin gathering at 1pm (0500 GMT). Dozens of police were patrolling the airport and blocked some exits.
Hundreds gathered outside the airport’s bus terminal, and shortly afterwards the MTR train service to the airport was closed. The protests were triggered by a controversial bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China, where the Communist party controls the courts, but have since evolved into a broader pro-democracy movement.
The airport also closed one of its car parks and advised passengers to use public transport, without giving a reason. Public anger – fuelled by the aggressive tactics used by the police against demonstrators – has collided with years of frustration over worsening inequality and the cost of living in one of the world's most expensive, densely populated cities.
A similar so-called “stress test” of the airport last weekend failed to gain momentum. Three weeks ago, some flights were delayed or cancelled after protesters swarmed the airport. The protest movement was given fresh impetus on 21 July when gangs of men attacked protesters and commuters at a mass transit station – while authorities seemingly did little to intervene. 
Late on Saturday and into the early hours, police fired tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets and protesters threw petrol bombs, escalating clashes that have plunged the Asian financial centre into its worst political crisis in decades. Underlying the movement is a push for full democracy in the city, whose leader is chosen by a committee dominated by a pro-Beijing establishment rather than by direct elections.
Protesters have vowed to keep their movement going until their core demands are met, such as the resignation of the city’s leader, Carrie Lam, an independent inquiry into police tactics, an amnesty for those arrested and a permanent withdrawal of the bill.
Beijing’s influence over Hong Kong has grown in recent years, as activists have been jailed and pro-democracy lawmakers disqualified from running or holding office. Independent booksellers have disappeared from the city, before reappearing in mainland China facing charges.
Under the terms of the agreement by which the former British colony was returned to Chinese control in 1997, the semi-autonomous region was meant to maintain a “high degree of autonomy” through an independent judiciary, a free press and an open market economy, a framework known as “one country, two systems”.
The extradition bill was seen as an attempt to undermine this and to give Beijing the ability to try pro-democracy activists under the judicial system of the mainland.
Lam has shown no sign of backing down beyond agreeing to suspend the extradition bill, while Beijing has issued increasingly shrill condemnations but has left it to the city's semi-autonomous government to deal with the situation. Meanwhile police have violently clashed directly with protesters, repeatedly firing teargas and rubber bullets.
Beijing has ramped up its accusations that foreign countries are “fanning the fire” of unrest in the city. China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi has ordered the US to “immediately stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs in any form”.
Lily Kuo and Verna Yu in Hong Kong
As part of the “stress test” launched by demonstrators, three cars along a main highway leading to the airport appeared to have broken down. Several cars were slowing down, blocking the traffic behind them.
Authorities shut service on a train linking the city to the airport, while several buses stopped running. Authorities also set up road blocks and were seen searching cars approaching the airport. Police along a bridge were taking photos of approaching cars.
The demonstrations come after running battles with police throughout Saturday night and early Sunday morning, marking the 13th weekend in a row of mass protests.
Hong Kong is facing its worst political crisis in decades, triggered by a proposed bill that would allow extradition to mainland China. Demonstrations, which started in June, have morphed into a broader political movement demanding democracy for the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
As the protests drag on with neither side showing signs of backing down, Hong Kong police have deployed harsher tactics on protesters. On Saturday, as helicopters hovered overhead, police fired rounds of tear gas and water cannons at protesters, staining them with blue dye to mark them for arrest later.
Late on Saturday, police stormed several metro stations, chasing and beating people believed to be protesters. In one incident, police stormed a train carriage in the Prince Edward train station in Kowloon, using batons to beat people in the car and spraying them with pepper spray.
Reporting on Hong Kong: 'What will happen to this wonderful city?'
Protesters have also escalated tactics, throwing petrol bombs and bricks at police, destroying cameras and ticket machines in the public transit system. Protesters built a pyre across a road outside the police headquarters in the commercial district of Wan Chai, and set it on fire.
On Sunday, the normally bustling Hong Kong was quiet and roads were empty. Several shops and malls had closed early during the previous day’s clashes.
“Day by day this doesn’t feel like Hong Kong,” said Joey Cheung, a taxi driver who was trying to get to the airport. “If Hong Kong keeps going this way, who knows what will happen. Either a police or a protester – someone is going to get killed soon, very soon.”
Last month, protesters shut down the airport for several days where they blocked travellers from reaching their flights and mobbed two men suspected of being spies, in ugly scenes for which protesters later apologised.
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