Hong Kong protesters clash with police, occupy airport

Protesters clashed with police on the streets of Hong Kong while a sit-in at the international airport remained peaceful as the city endured its 10th straight weekend of anti-China demonstrations. Police fired tear gas at protesters in the Tai Wai neighborhood in the northern part of the city after they refused to disperse. The activists took to the street after being denied a permit to demonstrate in the nearby Tai Po area. On the opposite side of the city, thousands of demonstrators occupied the arrivals hall of the Hong Kong airport for a second day, greeting passengers with “Free Hong Kong” chants. Only departing passengers with tickets or boarding passes and valid travel documents were being allowed to enter the check-in area at Terminal 1 until Sunday night, the last of the three-day demonstration there. Security personnel have been deployed. The Saturday demonstrations are part of a flurry of planned weekend protests across the city -- most of which have been denied permission by authorities. It also follows China’s civil aviation authority ordering Cathay Pacific Airways to ban all employees who supported or joined the recent protests from flying to the mainland, one of the strongest signs yet that Beijing is losing its patience with the demonstrations. The sit-in also affects one of the world’s busiest airports. The Hong Kong Cabin Crew Federation said in a statement it deeply regrets the decisions made by China’s civil aviation authority, adding that the authority should respect the Hong Kong citizens’ rights. Cathay Pacific’s Chief Executive Officer Rupert Hogg told staff in a memo that the airline would comply with the Chinese aviation authority’s directive, the South China Morning Post reported.<br/>