HONG KONG (Reuters) – Pro-democracy demonstrators yesterday planned to choke travel routes to Hong Kong’s international airport after a chaotic night of running battles between police and masked protesters, the latest wave of unrest to hit the Chinese-ruled city.
Protest organizers have urged the public to overwhelm road and rail links to the airport, one of the world’s busiest, yesterday and today, potentially disrupting flights. People would begin gathering at 1 p.m. (also 1 p.m. Manila time), protest groups said.
The airport closed one of its car parks and advised passengers to use public transport, without giving a reason.
A similar so-called “stress test” of the airport last weekend failed to gain momentum. Three weeks ago, some flights were delayed or canceled after protesters swarmed the airport.
Late on Saturday and into the early hours, police fired tear gas, water cannon, and rubber bullets and protesters threw petrol bombs, escalating clashes that have plunged the Asian financial center into its worst political crisis in decades.
As government helicopters hovered overhead, protesters who had been banned from demonstrating set fires in the streets and threw bricks at police near government offices and Chinese military headquarters.
Officers fired two warning shots in the air to scare off a group of protesters who had them surrounded and were trying to steal their pistols, the police said, only the second time live rounds have been used in more than three months of unrest.
