Hong Kong leader says city on brink

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters are close to creating a “very dangerous situation”, the city’s leader warned yesterday as train travel and international flights in the global financial hub were thrown into chaos. The efforts to lock down Hong Kong’s transport sector on Monday were part of a rare general strike, which the protesters pushed to emphasise they still had broad public support following two months of increasingly violent unrest.

In a rare public appearance since the crisis began, chief executive Carrie Lam warned protesters she would not buckle under the growing pressure. “(They) have seriously undermined Hong Kong’s law and order and are pushing our city, the city that we all love and many of us helped to build, to the verge of a very dangerous situation,” Lam said. She later referenced chants by protesters for a “revolution”, describing this as a challenge to the ‘one country, two systems’ framework under which Hong Kong has been ruled since it returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997.

“I dare say they are trying to destroy Hong Kong,” said Lam, who was appointed by a pro-Beijing committee. She spoke shortly after activists descended on subway stations during the morning rush hour, deliberately keeping open doors to stop trains departing and paralysing large parts of a network that millions of people use daily.

Simultaneous rallies were on Monday afternoon launched across Hong Kong -- the most spread out day of protests yet -- with crowds filling up parks, public squares and a shopping mall. Police said they used tear gas to disperse one group of protesters in a residential district, with more violence expected in the evening.

Flights cancelled, shops closed

The strike -- a rare occurrence in a freewheeling finance hub where unions traditionally have little sway -- hit the vital aviation sector. More than 160 flights at the city’s airport -- one of the world’s busiest -- were listed as cancelled on Monday afternoon. Many disrupted flights were with Cathay Pacific. The carrier did not give a reason for the cancellations, but its flight attendants union confirmed some of its members had walked out.

“Over the last 50 days, the government has been ignoring the demands of the people and using only police force to try to suppress voices, causing countless Hong Kong people to despair,” the union said in a statement on its Facebook page.  Some key roads were also blockaded, causing gridlock. Many shops across the city were shuttered, including fashion outlets in the central commercial district such as Topshop and Zara.

The strike led to some scuffles between angry commuters and protesters at crowded subway lines, while various other scenes circulated across social media highlighting tensions throughout the city. One video, verified by AFP, showed a car smashing its way through a protester roadblock in the northern town of Yuen Long.

But while some commuters were angered by the disruptions, others said they supported the action.  “As long as the government doesn’t respond then for sure the movement will escalate,” a civil servant, who gave his surname as Leung, said as he tried to make his way to work.