Hong Kong Airport Cancels Flights After Protesters Overwhelm Main Terminal
Beijing upped the rhetoric and hyperbole when officials described the acts by protesters as “terrorism” and “deranged.”
The feud between Hong Kong and China continues to grow as over 40,000 pro-democracy protesters overran the Hong Kong Airport on Monday.
The protest took place in the main terminal, which led officials to cancel all the flights except those already en route to the airport.
Protests against the mainland began in June after a bill went through “that would allow suspects to be tried in mainland China.”
Beijing has tried to keep its iron fist around Hong Kong even though China promised “to preserve the city’s relative autonomy until at least 2047.”
The protest disrupted flights, but the people performed it peacefully after a violent weekend. The world witnessed police officers beating protesters with batons. One woman suffered an eye injury after a projectile hit her.
Beijing upped the rhetoric and hyperbole when officials described the acts by protesters as “terrorism” and “deranged.” From The Wall Street Journal:
“Radical Hong Kong protesters have repeatedly used extremely dangerous tools to attack police officers,” a spokesman for the Chinese government’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office told a news briefing on Monday, according to Chinese state media. “The first signs of terrorism are starting to appear.”
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The spokesman, Yang Guang, expressed “intense condemnation” for such “deranged and severe criminal activities committed without regard for the consequences.” Such violence must be severely punished, “without leniency, without mercy,” he said.
Mr. Yang also called on ordinary Hong Kong residents to oppose the violence. “Hong Kong has already reached an important juncture,” he said. “All the people who care about Hong Kong’s future should step firmly forward, and say no to all criminal activities and all violent elements.”
Mr. Yang didn’t indicate that Beijing has any imminent plans to intervene in the unrest. Instead, he reiterated the central government’s firm support for Hong Kong’s police and judiciary in their efforts to “decisively enforce the law” and punish wrongdoers as soon as possible.
Chinese officials say they support the Hong Kong police, but Chinese state media sang a different tune that implied Beijing may take action against the protesters:
On Monday, social-media accounts run by the Communist Party’s flagship newspaper, People’s Daily, and other leading state news outlets published footage of Chinese paramilitary forces arriving in the southern city of Shenzhen, which abuts Hong Kong, over the weekend.
The footage, dated Saturday, featured captions describing the columns of armored vehicles and trucks as a detachment from the People’s Armed Police that may have been sent to participate in summer training drills.
The People’s Daily, in a microblog post featuring the footage, cited a Chinese law outlining the armed police’s powers, saying the paramilitary force can be used to deal with “riots, disturbances, severe violent criminal incidents, terrorist attacks and other public security incidents.”
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Comments
Dead people walking. Sad.
China has problems. They bring in the Red Army to crush the protesters and they open the door to young people inside communist China waiting for a chance to show their support for them. That would possibly destabilize the economy into a real recession. The rich Chinese must be burning up the telephone lines to the leaders as they watch their stock market values melt away. China must think of the unintended consequences stemming from an invasion of Hong Kong. First thing that they should do is to make the deal with Trump to stabilize things. But Trump got China by the balls right now and he knows it. I think Trump is enjoying himself right now.
Google is up to its eyeballs in Chinese entanglement, and they just got a note from Russia telling them to censor YouTube.
Worst of times; best of times. Chinese interesting.
Offhand, can anyone name a country that is OK with peaceful protesters taking over a busy airport and causing hundreds of flights to be cancelled? Because I am coming up dry.
No, I can’t either.
It’s kind of like having a lot of people dress up like Indians, climb on board a bunch of ships at dock in the harbor, and dump all the freight overboard. And then having the gall to call it a “tea party”
Obstruction and destruction will provoke a reaction.
So to protest the Mainland they bugger themselves up? It hurts Hong Kong more than the Mainland.
My country, the United States of America is ok with the citizens of Hong Kong demanding their freedom and liberty for the despotic corrupt communist Chinese government.
Is that what you’re asking? Or were you trying to suggest the people demanding freedom are the ones in the wrong?
I seriously wanted to know. It would have made a rational discussion rather than an emotional one possible. I guess that’s not happening.
I wish the protesters could succeed in demanding freedom. Short version: They won’t, and there’s nothing we can do to help them. Also, no country tolerates having public airports taken over like this. China’s government has a short fuse as it is. Their goals may be admirable, but their means just crossed into foolish and destructive. I mean, besides attacking capitalism as a way of protesting communism.
In other words, people should just lie down and take it because you don’t want your flight interrupted. They can’t win, so just be slaves.
I admire them. They desire freedom and put their lives on the line for it. You type for slavery on a keyboard.
“It would have made a rational discussion rather than an emotional one possible. I guess that’s not happening.”
I guess not. You desire slavery. I desire freedom. There is not going to be any middle ground.
I admire them. But I know better, and I’m not going to sugar coat it for you just to make you feel better about yourself. Turning Hong Kong into Grozny or Stalingrad is not going to free China from communism. Blessed be the fools, I guess.
You’re a slaver, you don’t admire them. You want them to remain slaves, to be further enslaved. You use the thin veil of anti-chaos to justify that.
“and I’m not going to sugar coat it for you”
I’ve been going to China for almost 40 years, back when the bicycle was the universal mode of transport and seeing a car was rare. I’ve been to HK more times than I can count. I remember when HK was THE bastion of freedom and liberty on a continent full of slaves. The British sold them out, couldn’t be bothered. Turning into another “Stalingrad”? Why not use the appropriate reminder, Tiananmen? The people in HK that desire their freedom know full well what the Chinese communists might do. They are brave. Bravery is in short supply.
“Sugar coat”? No, what you are doing is telling everyone to lie down before their masters.
“I seriously wanted to know.”
No you didn’t. You were just afraid to say what you wanted so you asked a BS question.
I’m not saying this for your benefit, but I tried searching Google for a similar instance and found nothing but Hong Kong references. I’m not winning against the algo today.
I hope you feel better from “defeating” me. No one pays me to comment here (though frankly you probably doubt even that much…) and it’s a luxury, not a necessity. I’m just saying, I hope you do feel better from it because it’s the most realistic victory you’ll find. And for what it’s worth, I hope the pile of martyrs ends up small. Anyway, I’m done. See you around, or maybe not.
I’ll lend my support to those that are willing to fight for freedom and liberty. That is what the folks in HK are doing.
And you, you want to belittle that and ask stupid questions to do it.
I have no idea what you get paid to do. Given your support of the Chinese communists I wouldn’t be surprised to find you are employed to do just that.
They better sort their shit out as I’ll be flying through here in a couple weeks!!
This will not be over in two weeks. If you’re just passing through the airport you might be OK. If you plan to be in HK I’d change my plans, unless you plan to support the protest.
I wouldn’t doubt that the reason behind these public demonstrations in the airport are to, in part, have the video of their actions documented. China is claiming they are violent terrorists, which tells you exactly what China is wanting to do to these people.
HK had freedom, but with the lease not being renewed, it devolved into a part of China. China wants to escalate things against them, but despite the rhetoric, the footage of these protests call out the lie of the Chinese government. It is likely the only chance of protecting themselves that they have while showing the world what they are up against.
The citizens of Hong Kong exhibit a great deal of courage. I’d like to trade our protestors for theirs.
People putting their lives on the line for freedom should be admired.
Nothing will save them now. Brave folks too bad the world will support them like the tiennamen square folks.
This would be a very good time for the US and our allies to send warships into the South China Sea to conduct freedom of navigation drills.
Damn, I hate the communist bastards and their sympathizers.
Seeing young kids protesting to preserve their freedom getting beat by the cops is sickening.
Face it. Beijing is the last, best hope of 20th century totalitarianism.
And, get this:
Back in the 1990’s, a minion of their foreign affairs bureau expressed shock to me on discovering that an American of German descent would hold no warm spot for Hitler. The gentleman in question explained that all his German realtives were Jews. The Foreign Affairs Bureau clerk was puzzled. The Yank then explained that Hitler killed off a small town’s worth of his father’s relatives. The FAB lady replied, “But isn’t that a small price to unify and build up the whole nation?” The Yank then explained that if German-Americans have a WWII ethnic hero, it is General Eisenhower. That registered only after it was explained that the General-cum-President’s name meant “Iron-cutter” in German. ANd then what a look of horror at such race treason came over the FAB lady’s face. The Yank wanted to end the conversation with, “Ya know, if you guys aren’t careful, you’re going to find yourself under a US occupation headed up by a general named Zhao or Huang,” but diplomatically bit his tongue.
While not a fan of the O-HRC gang, it bugged me that the last thing the official PRC press called Amb. Locke (4th or 5th generation Chinese-American, and former gov. or WA) a “banana”. But, the wonderul thing about a COmmunist state’s media is that it says nothing that the powers-that-be don’t agree with, and thus is a wonderful window on the regime’s mindset.
Not sure they are the last or only, but best I agree with.