Is Stephen King still down to clown?

Passengers walk to a terminal as protesters block the roads leading to Hong Kong International Airport.

Students take part in a school boycott rally in Central district in Hong Kong.

An anti-extradition bill protester is detained by riot police during a protest outside Mong Kok police station, in Hong Kong.

China said it has the legal power to declare a state of emergency in Hong Kong if unrest continues and cited specific measures the city’s chief executive can take to rein in the protests, according to a report on Tuesday.

Beijing outlined steps it could take to curb the protests that escalated over the weekend when protesters blocked routes leading to the international airport, students skipped the first day of school to demonstrate and workers went on strike, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Chinese officials suggested outlawing masks worn by the protesters and punishing teachers who encouraged students to boycott class for their “heinous crime.”

Xu Luying, a spokeswoman for the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, also raised the possibility of introducing patriotic education in Hong Kong schools.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam dismissed reports that she asked the Chinese government to allow her to resign after Reuters reported that she told business leaders last week that she would step down if she could.

“I have not even contemplated discussing a resignation with the central people’s government. The choice of resigning, it’s my own choice,” Lam said in a televised news conference, adding that Beijing believed she would handle the months-long crisis without China’s help.

“I told myself repeatedly in the last three months that I and my team should stay on to help Hong Kong … That’s why I said that I have not given myself the choice to take an easier path and that is to leave.”

​The protests erupted in March in opposition to a now-withdrawn measure that would have allowed suspects in Hong Kong to be extradited to face prosecution in mainland China.

Since then, the protesters’ demands have expanded to ​include democratic reforms.