Hong Kong airport obtains injunction to stop further protests at hub
Hong Kong’s airport authority has obtained an interim injunction to stop protests at the airport and restricted non-travellers from entering after a rally at the aviation hub on Tuesday night erupted into violent clashes with police. The move came as Terence Mak Chin-ho, an assistant police commissioner, said that five men were arrested in relation to Tuesday’s protests. He said acts of violence in aerodromes carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment under Hong Kong law. “According to the law . . . if any person commits . . . any act of violence which causes or is likely to cause death or serious personal injury, and endangers or is likely to endanger the safe operation of the aerodrome . . . they are liable on conviction to life imprisonment,” he said. Protests forced the mass cancellation of flights on Monday and Tuesday, hitting Hong Kong’s main airline, Cathay Pacific, and causing disruption for travellers in the world’s third busiest airport by passenger numbers. Under the injunction, the Hong Kong’s airport authority said people could be arrested for “unlawfully and wilfully obstructing or interfering with” the airport, among other acts. The authority also said it would only allow passengers with a valid ticket or boarding pass for a flight scheduled for the next 24 hours into the building from Wednesday afternoon. China’s liaison office in Hong Kong, Beijing’s highest representative office in the territory, said on Wednesday that the “outrages” by the protesters at the airport on Tuesday were “no different” to those of terrorists. With a smaller number of protesters still at the airport on Wednesday, Cathay said operations at the airport, including its check-in counters, had returned to normal but warned of the potential for disruptions at short notice. The airport authority said about 1,000 flights had been cancelled over the past five days; Cathay said it had been forced to cancel 272 flights over the past two days “affecting more than 55,000 passengers”.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2019-08-15/general/hong-kong-airport-obtains-injunction-to-stop-further-protests-at-hub
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Hong Kong airport obtains injunction to stop further protests at hub
Hong Kong’s airport authority has obtained an interim injunction to stop protests at the airport and restricted non-travellers from entering after a rally at the aviation hub on Tuesday night erupted into violent clashes with police. The move came as Terence Mak Chin-ho, an assistant police commissioner, said that five men were arrested in relation to Tuesday’s protests. He said acts of violence in aerodromes carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment under Hong Kong law. “According to the law . . . if any person commits . . . any act of violence which causes or is likely to cause death or serious personal injury, and endangers or is likely to endanger the safe operation of the aerodrome . . . they are liable on conviction to life imprisonment,” he said. Protests forced the mass cancellation of flights on Monday and Tuesday, hitting Hong Kong’s main airline, Cathay Pacific, and causing disruption for travellers in the world’s third busiest airport by passenger numbers. Under the injunction, the Hong Kong’s airport authority said people could be arrested for “unlawfully and wilfully obstructing or interfering with” the airport, among other acts. The authority also said it would only allow passengers with a valid ticket or boarding pass for a flight scheduled for the next 24 hours into the building from Wednesday afternoon. China’s liaison office in Hong Kong, Beijing’s highest representative office in the territory, said on Wednesday that the “outrages” by the protesters at the airport on Tuesday were “no different” to those of terrorists. With a smaller number of protesters still at the airport on Wednesday, Cathay said operations at the airport, including its check-in counters, had returned to normal but warned of the potential for disruptions at short notice. The airport authority said about 1,000 flights had been cancelled over the past five days; Cathay said it had been forced to cancel 272 flights over the past two days “affecting more than 55,000 passengers”.<br/>
