Hong Kong airport struggles to pick up pieces after 1,000 flights grounded as security tightened after court order secured to clear protesters
- Unprecedented violence at airport sparks widespread condemnation including from Beijing and local officials, residents and tourists, as well as business groups
- Protesters also cable-tied, beat and tormented for several hours two mainland Chinese men they caught in terminal building
Hong Kong’s airport struggled to pick up the pieces on Wednesday after securing a court order to clear out anti-government demonstrators who had grounded nearly 1,000 flights and a day earlier unleashed unprecedented violence that prompted widespread condemnation.
Beijing and local officials, residents and tourists, as well as business and international aviation groups denounced the actions of the protesters who had cable-tied, beaten and tormented for several hours two mainland Chinese men whom they accused of being spies and clashed with riot police.
Beijing officials overseeing the city’s affairs compared their actions to that of terrorists, and said the radical protesters had “totally breached the bottom line of the law, morals and humanity”.
Before the mayhem on Tuesday night, the aviation hub, one of the world’s busiest, went to the High Court for an injunction to ban demonstrations in all but two designated zones at the arrival hall.
The full impact of the five-day protest emerged when the Airport Authority revealed on Wednesday that 979 flights had been cancelled since Friday, 421 of them on Tuesday alone.
With tourism taking a hit, the city’s commerce chief announced that hotel operators would soon roll out special complimentary accommodation for tourists affected by the airport closure.
Police also condemned protesters’ acts, and warned that those who disrupted the safe operations of the airport or caused serious injuries to anyone on the premises could face life imprisonment.