Hong Kong’s Airport Authority has cancelled all departure flights not yet checked in by Monday afternoon, after thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators flooded into the airport holding signs reading “Hong Kong is not safe” and “Shame on police”.
“Other than departure flights that have completed the check-in process and the arrival flights already heading to
Hong Kong, all other flights have been cancelled for the rest of today,” the authority said in a statement.
Traffic on roads to the airport was very congested and car park spaces were full, the authority said, on the fourth day of a mass demonstration there.
The increasingly violent protests have plunged Chinese-ruled Hong Kong into its most serious crisis in decades and presented a serious challenge to Beijing.
Rights groups and democracy activists accused police on Monday of using excessive force after teargas was fired into an enclosed subway station and officers posed as protesters before making arrests during an intense weekend of clashes.
“Clashes between protesters and police over the weekend escalated to another level especially on the police side,” said Man-Kei Tam, director of Amnesty International Hong Kong.