Hong Kong protesters target airport to disrupt travel

Operators of Hong Kong's Airport Express train said it suspended services on Sunday afternoon as pro-democracy protesters gathered in the semiautonomous Chinese territory after a day of violent clashes with police.

Airport authorities read an injunction to protesters using a loudspeaker at a main entrance, but they failed to disperse.   

"We plan to disrupt activity at the airport to draw attention to what the government and the police are doing to us," one 20-year-old protester said.

"If we disrupt the airport, more foreigners will read the news about Hong Kong."Tear gas deployed

The protesters later left the airport and thousands relocated to the nearest town, Tung Chung, where they used fire hoses to flood the metro station, sprayed graffiti on its walls, and also burned a Chinese flag. 

Officers fired tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets, and protesters threw petrol bombs, during a night of intense violence in Hong Kong. Television images showed people being beaten as they cowered on the floor behind umbrellas. 

Pro-democracy supporters said police officers rushed into Prince Edward metro station "and began beating up all the passengers in the carriage." Police were further accused of ignoring weapons guidelines by "firing tear gas into the carriage, which is an enclosed space."

Images posted on social media appeared to show police officers spraying an unknown liquid into a train carriage, and people sitting on the floor — holding their hands up — apparently being sprayed. 

Police said they arrested 40 people inside the station on suspicion of obstructing officers, unlawful assembly and criminal damage. Criticizing police actions

Amnesty International — which had slammed a "heavy-handed" police response during previous protests — said police tactics inflamed tensions and posed a risk to freedom of expression and assembly and the right to fair trial.

The human rights NGO also called for a probe into the metro violence.

"Violence directed at police on Saturday is no excuse for officers to go on the rampage elsewhere," it said. 

A separate group of protesters gathered outside the British Consulate, calling on London to grant citizenship to people born in the former colony before its return to China in 1997.

This weekend's violence marks the 13th week of protests, which initially began against now-suspended plans to allow extradition to mainland China.

Protesters are demanding the resignation of the city's leader, Carrie Lam, as well as fully democratic elections and an independent investigation into what they claim is police brutality against the protesters. Read more: West reluctant to criticize China over Hong Kong stance

kw/ng (AP, AFP, Reuters)

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