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| In her first public appearance since demonstrators succeeded in shutting down the city's international airport yesterday Chief Executive Carrie Lam said it could take a "long time for Hong Kong to recover |
HONG KONG
A state of “panic and chaos” exists in Hong Kong,
the city’s embattled leader said on Tuesday, defying calls to quit as the stock
market tumbled, airlines flagged further flight disruptions and anti-government
protesters filled the airport.
Unrest has roiled the former British colony for 10
weeks this summer, as thousands of residents chafe at a perceived erosion of
freedoms and autonomy under Chinese rule.
The increasingly violent demonstrations have
plunged the Asian financial hub into its most serious crisis in decades,
presenting Chinese leader Xi Jinping with one of his biggest challenges since
he came to power in 2012.
For a fifth day, protesters occupied the arrivals
hall at the airport, shut down in an unprecedented move on Monday that forced
hundreds of flight cancellations. Beijing likened the demonstrations in Hong
Kong to terrorism.
“Take a minute to look at our city, our home,”
Chief Executive Carrie Lam told a news conference at the government
headquarters complex, fortified with 6-foot (1.8m) high water-filled
barricades.
“Can we bear to push it into the abyss and see it
smashed to pieces?” she added, her voice wavering.
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| Riot police arresting protesters in Sham Shui Po, the grass-root district in Hong Kong, on Sunday |
As she spoke, the benchmark Hang Seng index .HIS
hit a seven-month low. By lunchtime, it had dropped nearly 2%, dragging down
markets across Asia. It has fallen 6% since the protests began in June.
The protests began as opposition to a now-suspended
bill that would have allowed extradition to mainland China for those facing
criminal charges, but have swelled into wider calls for democracy.
Demonstrators say they are fighting the erosion of
the “one country, two systems” arrangement enshrining some autonomy for Hong
Kong when China took it back from Britain in 1997.
They want Lam to resign. She said she would stay.
“My
responsibility goes beyond this particular range of protest,” she said, adding
that violence had pushed the territory into a state of “panic and chaos”.
“I, as the chief executive, will be responsible to
rebuild the Hong Kong economy, to engage as widely as possible, listen as
attentively as possible to my people’s grievances and try to help Hong Kong to
move on.”
She did not respond to repeated requests to clarify
if she had the power to withdraw the extradition bill to satisfy a key demand
by protesters, or if she required Beijing’s approval.
On Monday China said the protests had reached a
critical juncture, after a weekend of street clashes in which both police and
protesters appeared to toughen their resolve.
Police fired tear gas at the black-shirted crowds
in districts on Hong Kong island, Kowloon and the New Territories.
A senior Chinese official said “sprouts of
terrorism” were emerging in Hong Kong, given instances of violent attacks
against police officers.
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| Members of the medical profession gather to protest against Hong Kong police brutality at Queen Elizabeth Hospital on August 13 |
Hong Kong legal experts say Beijing might be paving
the way to use anti-terror laws to restrain the protesters.
Some flights resumed as Hong Kong’s airport
reopened on Tuesday, but hundreds remained cancelled.
Airport officials said they aimed to resume normal
service in the afternoon, but warned of further protests as the atmosphere at
the airport grew more confrontational.
“Sorry for the inconvenience, we are fighting for
the future of our home,” read a banner held by some of the hundreds of
protesters who had returned to the arrivals hall.
Some passengers challenged protesters over the
delays as tempers began to fray, while the demonstrators, employing a Chinese
term of encouragement, chanted, “Hong Kong people - add oil!”
Flag carrier Cathay Pacific (0293.HK) urged passengers to
postpone non-essential travel on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The airline, whose British heritage makes it symbol
of Hong Kong’s colonial past, is also in a political bind.
China’s civil aviation regulator demanded it
suspend personnel who joined or backed the protests from flights into its
airspace, pushing its shares to a 10-year low on Monday and lower still on
Tuesday.
The airport closure added to that pressure, though
some firms benefited from the chaos.
Shares in Shenzhen Airport Co Ltd
(000089.SZ) surged 10%, the maximum
allowed on the index, buoyed by potential flight diversions.
Flagship carrier Air China (601111.SS) (0753.HK) said it would add capacity
on its Beijing-Shenzhen route, as a result of the disruptions.
Other Chinese airlines have offered passengers a
free switch of destination from Hong Kong to nearby locations such as
Guangzhou, Macau, Shenzhen or Zhuhai. - Reuters
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