Hong Kong’s Airport Authority cancelled all departing flights not yet checked in on Monday afternoon as anti-government protests continue in the airport.
“Airport operations at Hong Kong International Airport have been seriously disrupted as a result of the public assembly at the airport today,” the agency said in a statement.
“Other than the departure flights that have completed the check-in process and the arrival flights that are already heading to Hong Kong, all other flights have been cancelled for the rest of today,” it added.
Hong Kong’s international airport was the world’s busiest air cargo hub last year and the eighth busiest airport for passenger traffic, according to Airports Council International.
Protests have rocked the former British territory for ten weeks over a proposed legislation that would have allowed Hong Kong citizens accused of crimes to be tried in mainland China.
Kien Tan was due to catch a British Airways flight from Hong Kong airport, he gave an update, saying “officially everything is cancelled” and their had been no further information.
Police fired tear gas at protesters on Sunday, a move that heavily condemned by the Civil Rights Observer, a local monitor, which described it as “an inappropriate and excessive use of force.”
It also criticised the authorities deploying plain clothed officers to arrest protesters.
Police, meanwhile, condemned the “unlawful assemblies” and said several officers had been injured during the weekend.
