World
Clashes rock Hong Kong airport for second day as political crisis deepens
By Itzhak Rabihiya
President Donald Trump says U.S intelligence believes China is sending troops to its border with the former British colony while Hong Kong's chief executive warns the administrative region risked being 'smashed to pieces' as protests over Beijing's growing influence intensify.
Police and protesters clashed at
Demonstrators who have been protesting for the past nine weeks against
Medics, however, bundled him onto a stretcher and forced their way through jeering throngs to an ambulance. Several police vehicles were blocked by protesters and riot police moved in amid chaotic scenes, using pepper spray to keep people back. A policeman pulled out a gun at one point. Protesters also barricaded some passageways in the airport with luggage trolleys, metal barriers and other objects. Others clambered onto check-in counters as the protesters appeared to control part of the airport for a short while. At least two protesters were taken away by police.
The situation calmed down after a few hours without the violence worsening, and the crowds thinned out. Local media reported that an injunction had been issued by a local court to clear the airport of protesters. The action followed an unprecedented shutdown of the airport on Monday.
The weeks of protests began as opposition to a now-suspended bill that would have allowed suspects to be extradited to mainland
The United Nations human rights commissioner, Michele Bachelet, urged
Chief Executive Lam made an appeal for calm and restraint. "Take a minute to look at our city, our home," she said, her voice cracking, at a news conference in the newly-fortified government headquarters complex. "Can we bear to push it into the abyss and see it smashed to pieces?" she said. Demonstrators want Lam to resign. She says she will stay.
The events present Chinese President Xi Jinping with one of his biggest challenges since he came to power in 2012. Hong Kong legal experts say
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