Some sense of calm returned to Hong Kong's international
airport in the early hours of Wednesday morning, after clashes between
police and anti-government protesters caused flight check-in services to
be suspended on Tuesday, the airport authority said.
All departing flights were cancelled for the remainder of the day Tuesday.
The authority said it did not expect arriving flights to be affected, though dozens of them were already cancelled.
Clashes
in the airport broke out in the evening between police and protesters
after an injured person was taken out of the main terminal by medics.
Several police vehicles were blocked by protesters, and riot police
moved in, pushing some protesters back and using pepper spray at times.
Cathay
Pacific, Hong Kong's flag carrier, warned customers to "postpone
non-essential travel from Hong Kong" for Tuesday and have asked people
to stay away from the airport. Airline authorities also said it will
"continue to implement flight rescheduling" on Wednesday, which will
further affect flight movements.
Protesters clogged the departure area after the airport was temporarily reopened Tuesday morning, forcing a second shutdown.
After
filling up two separate arrivals halls, demonstrators have streamed
into the departure area despite increased security measures designed to
keep them out. Passengers struggled to get past the sitting protesters
and into the immigration section.
Some flights were able to take
off earlier Tuesday, relieving some of the pressure from the
cancellations of more than 200 flights on Monday. The central government
in Beijing ominously characterized the protest movement as something
approaching "terrorism" that posed an "existential threat" to the local
citizenry.
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