Hong Kong: Activists take to the streets in another weekend of protests
Another weekend of anti-government protests kicked off in Hong Kong on Saturday morning as the political crisis deepened.
It was the second day in a row that 1,000’s of activists have turned up to the city’s international airport following further peaceful protests on Friday.
Read more: Hong Kong protests continue as property developers urge calm
No flights were disrupted on either occasion, and on Saturday, hundreds of protestors returned to occupy the arrivals hall and drew protest posters and handed out leaflets.
It comes amid the increasingly violent protests that have plagued Hong Kong in recent weeks, plunging the city into its worst political crisis for decades.
On Saturday morning, small groups of elderly locals and families marched near the financial centre’s business district in peaceful protest, before later on thousands gathered in Tai Po, a town in the north of the territory.
On Friday, Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam said the economy was being undermined by the protests, which began in June, while the city’s property developers spoke out for the first time too as they urged calm following a dent to their earnings.
“The Hong Kong community has been suffering from the acts of violence perpetrated by a small group of individuals lately,” a statement signed by 17 developers read.
“Such acts have deviated from the original intent of the peaceful demonstrations and are bringing distress to the business community and the general public as a whole,” it continued.
Lam’s warning comes as part of a toughening stance by authorities as they attempt grapple with Hong Kong’s deepest crisis in years.
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Young people have been at the forefront of the protests, which began in response to a law allowing suspects to be extradited to China for trial, but has since been suspended.
It has since extended into concerns about the erosion of freedoms in Hong Kong by China but also concerned with issues such as wealth disparities in the city.