Hundreds of pro-democracy
protesters have descended on Hong Kong’s international airport amid the latest wave of unrest in the city.
On Sunday, trains to the airport were cancelled and roads were blocked as demonstrators attempted to overwhelm one of the world’s busiest airports, Reuters reported.
Standing outside one of the terminals, protesters – many wearing hard hats and gas masks – chanted: “Fight for freedom! Stand with Hong Kong!” as riot
police watched from inside the terminal building.
One demonstrator told reporters: “We plan to disrupt activity at the airport to draw attention to what the government and the police are doing to us.”
Police, who branded the gathering “illegal”, said they would conduct a “dispersal operation”. The protest marks more than three months of demonstrations in Hong Kong. It follows the creation of a controversial extradition bill which would have allowed criminal suspects to be sent mainland
China for trial.
While the bill has since been suspended,
protests have grown into a broader pro-democracy movement, with many Hong Kong residents worried that the territory is being increasingly controlled by China.
On Saturday, police in the city stormed an underground rail carriage and hit passengers with batons and pepper spray.
Video from Hong Kong broadcaster TVB showed police using batons while on the platform of Prince Edward station and swinging batons at passengers who backed into one end of a train car behind umbrellas.
The video also shows pepper spray being shot through an open door at a group seated on the floor while one man holds up his hands.
It was not clear if all the passengers were protesters.
Police said they entered the station to arrest offenders after protesters assaulted others and damaged property inside.
It came as mostly young, black-shirted protesters took over roads and major intersections in shopping districts on Saturday as they rallied and marched.
Firefighters were called after a
fire was started in a major commercial street, while petrol bombs were hurled at police officers, the Press Association reported. Related... Three Hong Kong Activists Arrested In Protest Crackdown China Blasts Senior Tory's 'Colonial' Response To Hong Kong Protests