Hong Kong: Thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday continued a peaceful three-day sit-in at the Hong Kong International airport in a bid to gain international support for the ongoing pro-democracy movement.
Protesters held signs in English and Chinese and had printed leaflets in multiple languages explaining the causes and demands of the demonstrations for the tourists arriving at the airport. The sit-in, which began on Friday, has not disturbed operations at the airport so far, reported CNN.
Hong Kong international airport is one of the busiest in the world and handles as many as 1,100 passengers and cargo flights every day, with services between the city and about 200 international destinations.
The Semi-autonomous region has seen eight consecutive weeks of anti-government protests that began against a now-suspended extradition bill, that have since broadened to include calls for democracy and police accountability.
The said extradition bill was proposed on April 3 and its opposers argue that its controversial amendments will leave anyone on Hong Kong soil vulnerable to being grabbed by the Chinese authorities for political reasons or inadvertent business offences.
Multiple protests sometimes violent continue to take place in the semi-autonomous state despite the city’s pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam publicly apologizing for proposing the controversial legislation and announcing later that the bill was “dead”.