Activists take over shopping complex and vandalise rail station after trying to choke city’s international hub

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Thousands of demonstrators in Hong Kong have paralysed traffic and shut down transport links between the city and the airport during another day of protests demanding democratic freedoms in the semiautonomous Chinese territory.

On Sunday, demonstrators attempted to lay siege to the airport to draw global attention to the city that has been plunged into political crisis for the last three months.

Travellers were stranded as an express train linking the airport to the city and several bus lines were suspended and roads were heavily congested. About two dozen flights were cancelled and more than 40 others delayed as staff and passengers struggled to reach the airport.

The protest began in the afternoon when protesters dressed in black, with helmets and masks, some armed with plastic and metal poles, descended on the airport in Lantau island, blocking roads and forcing travellers to abandon their cars and drag their luggage the rest of the way toward the airport.

Quick guide What are the Hong Kong protests about? Show Hide Why are people protesting? 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. 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. 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. 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. Lam announced on 4 September that she was withdrawing the bill. Why were people so angry about the extradition 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. How have the authorities responded? 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 hundreds of riot police arrived, they quickly retreated to a nearby town of Tung Chung, where they overtook a shopping complex and vandalised a metro station. Protesters smashed CCTV cameras and the windows of a control room, and flooded the station with water, setting off emergency sirens.

Protesters scrawled on the walls: “Glory be to Hong Kong,” and “Black police” – the black being a reference to gangsters. One group lit a makeshift barricade on fire and another burned a Chinese flag, a gesture aimed at antagonising Beijing.

“The government has not answered us, so we keep coming,” said Engred Lai, 18, a protester dressed head to toe in black and wearing a gas mask.

Police condemned the demonstrators and said they had assaulted members of the public. “Their acts are barbaric and outrageous. The police will take resolute enforcement actions,” the force said.

Sunday’s protests come less than a day after protesters and police clashed in running battles left 41 people in hospital as the city marks its 13th consecutive weekend of mass protests. The protests, triggered by a proposed bill to allow extradition to mainland China, have plunged Hong Kong into its worst political crisis in decades.

As the protests, now a broader political movement demanding democracy for the former British colony under Chinese control since 1997, continue, authorities have ramped up their tactics.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Protesters gather in the airport bus terminal. Photograph: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP/Getty Images

On Saturday, as helicopters hovered overhead, police fired rounds of teargas and water cannons at protesters, staining them with blue dye to mark them for arrest later. Undercover police were seen clashing with and arresting protesters.

Protesters threw petrol bombs and bricks at police and set fire to a pyre across a road outside the police headquarters. Police also stormed several metro stations, arresting protesters. In one incident, officers stormed a train carriage, using batons to beat passengers and deploying pepper spray.

Demonstrators on Sunday said they were not intimidated. “I’m not scared because many Hongkongers have already been caught. I know I’m not alone,” said Lui Cheung, 17, as he blocked a road outside the airport.

In a press conference on Sunday, police said they had arrested 63 people during clashes on Saturday, including a 13-year-old boy who police said was carrying petrol bombs. More than 900 have been arrested since June, including pro-democracy lawmakers and prominent activists like Joshua Wong, a student leader in 2014 protests known as the umbrella movement.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Travellers attempt to reach the airport after protesters blocked roads. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

“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 very soon.”

By early evening on Sunday, protesters had scattered from Tung Chung, as some took ferries back to Hong Kong island and others crammed into public buses. Hundreds began walking a distance of eight miles (13km) to the nearest train station, while some escaped into cars waiting for them.

Dozens of riot police arrived at Tung Chung after protesters had scattered where they were heckled by local residents calling them “black society”, a term for gangsters. The police have been accused of colluding with triad gangs and thugs to attack protesters, claims the police and government have vehemently denied.

An elderly demonstrator wearing a vest that read “protect children” placed himself in front of the police with his hands up, trying to stop them from searching the area for protesters. The police searched passengers stranded at the station and reportedly made several arrests.

Trains from the airport resumed partial service late in the evening.

Play Video 1:27 Hong Kong police seen beating protesters during clash at metro station in August – video

Beijing has reportedly barred the Hong Kong government, under its chief executive, Carrie Lam, from conceding to any of the protesters’ demands, which include the permanent withdrawal of the extradition bill as well as universal suffrage.

Beijing has issued increasingly ominous warnings and the Chinese military has held several rounds of exercises across the border from Hong Kong in Shenzhen, but experts say a military intervention is still unlikely.

Hong Kong: ‘Revolution is war, and no war is without bloodshed’ Read more

“Beijing has now apparently decided that a military crackdown on Hong Kong’s civilian unrest would be too high stakes, and a police force that has gone insane would be their best tool,” said Claudia Mo, a pro-democracy lawmaker.

Observers believe the government is cracking down harder in hopes of ending the protests before China celebrates its national holiday on 1 October, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

The protesters say they will keep going. University and secondary students said they would begin a class boycott on Monday as other demonstrators called for a city-wide strike on Monday and Tuesday.

“We love Hong Kong, we want to save Hong Kong people from the Chinese government,” said Markus Chan, 19, who was resting on a step outside the shopping complex in Tung Chung.

“This movement will keep going. We will fight for it until they stop the bill.”