Hong Kong's airport canceled all flights on Monday as protests raged. Here's why. - USA TODAY

Elizabeth Lawrence USA TODAY

Published 9:18 AM EDT Aug 12, 2019

Hong Kong International Airport shut down all flights after thousands of pro-democracy protesters flooded the airport's main terminal Monday afternoon. 

The airport said in a statement that operations have been "seriously disrupted as a result of the public assembly at the airport today.”

The demonstration is the latest in a series of mass protests spanning two months. Hong Kong activists are calling for more autonomy from Beijing and an independent inquiry into police behavior.

Here's what we know about the unrest in Hong Kong. 

When and why did the protests start? 

The tension was sparked by a since-shelved extradition bill, which would have allowed some suspects to be sent for trial in mainland China. Opponents believed the bill would expand Beijing's control on the bustling international hub. 

Hong Kong was a British colony until 1997, when China absorbed Hong Kong in a handover. Since then, Hong Kong operates under a "one country, two systems" framework that was supposed to allow the territory to retain its own social, legal and political systems for 50 years. 

Many Hongkongers have concerns over Beijing asserting its control and believe that Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who originally introduced the extradition legislation, must resign.

The protests kicked off on June 9 as hundreds of thousands peacefully took to the streets until a group stormed the government headquarters, where police responded with batons and pepper spray. Since then, the conflict has intensified significantly into violence between protesters and police. 

Lau, a flight attendant protesting at the airport on his day off, said protesters outrage stems from police's forceful tactics. He gave only his surname to avoid repercussions from his employer. 

“The police have told a lot of lies to Hong Kong people," Lau said. "We cannot believe them anymore. We have to come here to protest."

Airport shut down: Hong Kong airport shuts down amid pro-democracy protest

How have tensions escalated?

Though Lam suspended the bill on June 15 and called it "dead" in a press conference, protests kept growing, eventually turning into a full-blown democracy movement. The activists' demands include Lam's resignation, democratic elections for her successor and investigations into police force. 

In Beijing, the Cabinet’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office said the protests were "beginning to show the sprouts of terrorism," and serve as an "existential threat" to the residents of Hong Kong. Beijing officials could use the growing unrest to crack down on Hong Kong. 

Protesters have been subject to aggressive tactics on the part of riot police. One young woman was hit in the eye with a rubber bullet by Hong Kong police during a protest. Activist leader Joshua Wong tweeted a picture of her face covered in blood, which has since been widely circulated. 

"I am not sure whether her right eye will turn blind or not but it is totally insane and terrible," Wong tweeted. "US should not export tear gas and rubber bullet to HK Police anymore."

At the airport protest Monday, protesters used the slogan "an eye for an eye," according to South China Morning Post. 

Police have also reported injuries, including eye irritation from laser pointers and burns from gasoline bombs. During protests over the weekend at the airport, protesters tossed bricks at officers. 

More: Protesters storm Hong Kong legislative chamber; police fire tear gas to break siege

What's next for travelers at the airport? 

For now, more than 100 flights are grounded. The airport is one of the busiest in the world, as Hong Kong is a haven for international business. Travelers from around the world are stranded and confused. 

CNN reported that one girl traveling by herself needed to get foreign currency but found the exchange desk closed. She told CNN she had no idea how to exit the airport. 

Some travelers have been offered free Airport Express train rides to the city, according to SCMP. Bus services are now back to normal. 

The numbers of protesters have dwindled with only a few hundred protesters remaining, SCMP reported. The Airport Authority released a statement saying it hoped to continue flights beginning 6 a.m. Tuesday but told passengers not to arrive unless their flights are confirmed. 

"The AA will work closely with its business partners with a view to gradually resume normal airport operations as soon as possible," authorities said.

Contributing: Associated Press

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2019-08-12 13:07:00Z
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Hong Kong grounds all flights as protest paralyzes airport: Live updates - CNN

Crowds are gathering in Wan Chai district after a sit-in at the airport earlier today. Joshua Berlinger/CNN

Most protesters have cleared out of the airport, with only a few hundred left, but some others are now gathering in the district of Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island.

Police on scene are warning through a loudspeaker that this gathering constitutes an unlawful assembly, and that protesters should leave -- to which protesters shout back that they're not causing any harm.

The small crowd say they're planning to submit a letter to the Hong Kong police commissioner, and are chanting, "Stop firing tear gas."

"Your whole family and kids would be ashamed for what you have done," one protester shouted at the police.

One police officer came out to meet the protesters and receive the letter, even posing for a photo with the protesters.

A Joshua Berlinger/CNN

There is widespread anger at the police today, after a female protester was injured in the eye yesterday night during clashes with police who were trying to disperse crowds. Many posters, flyers, and pieces of protest art today showed a bloody eye, or faces with one eye covered or missing.

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2019-08-12 12:26:00Z
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Hong Kong grounds all flights as protest paralyzes airport: Live updates - CNN

Use of the terrorism label for the Hong Kong protests, even in a somewhat backhanded way, is a major rhetorical shift in how China has described the protests, and could foreshadow an escalation in Beijing's handling of them.

Earlier today, a top Chinese official said the protests -- now in their eleventh week -- had "begun to show signs of terrorism." In recent years, that term has only been used in a domestic Chinese context to refer to the actions of alleged Islamist groups, particularly in Xinjiang, the predominantly Muslim northwest region of China. Beijing has cracked down heavily in Xinjiang in recent years, establishing a massive system of so-called "re-education camps" in which millions of Muslims have been detained.

In domestic propaganda, there has been a major shift in recent weeks in how the protests are covered. Reports initially barely mentioned them, amid heavy censorship, as is usual for anti-government actions anywhere in China, but increasingly they have emphasized the violent side of the protests -- and sought to paint the protesters as separatists being controlled by the United States and other foreign "black hands."

Suggesting those protesters are also committing acts of terror could open the door for Beijing to crack down on Hong Kong, either by ordering the local police to escalate their use of force, or even by deploying the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in the city.

The PLA can be deployed in Hong Kong if the local government requests it, in order to assist with a major breakdown in public order. Local officials have previously refuted any suggestion they would do so.

Earlier Monday, police showed off a riot control vehicle with water cannon, previously never used in Hong Kong. Across the border in Shenzhen, the People's Armed Police, a paramilitary organization, conducted major exercises seen as a potential signal to protesters in Hong Kong.

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2019-08-12 11:05:00Z
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Hong Kong grounds all flights as protest paralyzes airport: Live updates - CNN

A line for the bus at the airport. Ben Westcott/CNN Ben Westcott/CNN

Ben, a British expat who landed in Hong Kong at 4.20 p.m. on a Cathay Pacific flight from Cebu in the Philippines, said airport staff gave no warning of the chaos awaiting travelers trying to leave the airport. 

"It was wall-to-wall people chanting, 'Don't trust HK police' and providing maps of MTR stations that had been attacked in the last couple of days, and where people had been beaten up by the police," he said. 

Once through customs, Ben, who asked that CNN withhold his full name, said it took him an hour to battle through the arrivals hall. "Normally, it takes 10 minutes," he said.

Travelers stranded at the airport: The taxi stand was shut and Ben couldn't get on the Airport Express train, leaving him with few options to leave the airport.

"If you're waiting for that train, you're going to have to wait for an hour-plus, if not more," he said, describing a huge crowd waiting to catch the train, which takes 25 minutes to reach the city center.

"We weren't given any advice (after landing)," he said. "I'd seen on various WhatsApp groups what was going on, but there was nothing from airport staff warning what we were going to face." 

In the end, Ben left the airport terminal and walked up to the highway until he saw a taxi that dropped someone off.

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2019-08-12 10:15:00Z
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Hong Kong grounds all flights as protest paralyzes airport: Live updates - CNN

When protesters in Hong Kong targeted the Chinese government's headquarters in the city last month, social media users in China were united in outrage.

"The dignity of our motherland won't be allowed to be trampled," one person wrote on Weibo, the country's highly-censored equivalent to Twitter, while another warned the young protesters that "playing violently is how you seek death."

A third commenter sought to reassure others, writing that "the central government promised that Hong Kong won't be changed for 50 years. There's only 28 years left before Hong Kong becomes part of (China)."

A looming deadline: That 2047 deadline, on which the clock began ticking after the United Kingdom handed Hong Kong over to China in 1997, is at the forefront of the minds of the mostly young protesters who have been taking to the streets for over two months now, in increasingly violent confrontations with police and pro-government groups.

What began as protests over a now-suspended extradition bill have broadened to cover a host of demands, including calls for greater democracy and more government accountability, that many feel they are running out of time to achieve.

Even as democratic values have increasingly come under threat around the world, and many voters in democracies are increasingly expressing apathy or despair, young Hong Kongers are determined to continue a fight for freedom which began decades ago under British rule, before time runs out and Hong Kong becomes just another Chinese city.

"Liberate Hong Kong, the revolution of our times," the slogan of the protests has become.

Read more analysis here.

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2019-08-12 10:02:00Z
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Hong Kong grounds all flights as protest paralyzes airport: Live updates - CNN

With the airport now closed and tear gas being fired across the city almost every weekend, many travelers are wondering -- is it still safe to visit Hong Kong?

Several countries including the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Japan, and Singapore have already issued travel advisories, warning of "violent clashes" between pro-democracy protesters and police.

The Hong Kong Tourism Commission has said the city is still open to travelers. And key major attractions such as the Peak Tram, the Ladies' Market and the Star Ferry, which takes passengers across the Victoria Harbor to Kowloon, have been unaffected.

But there are signs the mass protests are having an impact on tourism.

Between June 16 and July 13, during which time there were several huge demonstrations, flight bookings to Hong Kong from Asia fell by 5.4% on the same period last year, according to analysis firm ForwardKeys.

Read more here.

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2019-08-12 09:16:00Z
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Alejandro Giammattei wins Guatemala's presidential race - Aljazeera.com

Guatemala City, Guatemala - Guatemalans have voted for Alejandro Giammattei of the Vamos party as the country’s next president, amid hopes that he would address the issues of crime and security, as well as concerns about his human rights record.

The 63-year-old conservative candidate and former surgeon won in a run-off election, with 58.26 percent of the vote after counting 98 percent of voting centers. He defeated former first lady, Sandra Torres, who received about 40 percent of the votes.

"Today is a new period of the country," he told supporters at the party's headquarters in Guatemala City following his victory.

"Those who voted for us, those who did not vote for us, and those who did not go to vote, it does not matter. Today we need to unite, today I am the president of all Guatemalans."

This is the fourth time that Giammattei ran for president of the Central American country, which is plagued by violence, poverty, and corruption. He has suffered from multiple sclerosis for years and is reliant on crutches.

He will assume office on January 14, 2020.

Giammattei, who was supported by the Guatemalan business community and former military, faced Torres from the centrist National Unity of Hope party.

Many who voted for Giammattei saw their votes as a vote against Torres, who is accused of campaign finance violations during her 2015 presidential run against current president Jimmy Morales, and for corruption.

"I decided to vote against Sandra Torres because of the accusations of corruption," Rosa Julaju, a 38-year-old indigenous Maya Kaqchikel woman who lives in Guatemala City and works as a vendor in a market in the city, told Al Jazeera.

"I hope Giammattei confronts the violence in our country," she said. "I voted for him for better security."

Giammattei campaigned on being tough on crime, promising to treat gang membres "like terrorists", legalise the death penalty and bring more investment to combat migration from Guatemala.

Supporters of Giammattei celebrate in Guatemala City following his victory on Sunday [Johan Ordonez/AFP]

For voters like Julaju, Giammattei's stance on crime contributed to her reasons to vote for him. 

Human rights concerns

The election of Giammattei has raised concerns among human rights defenders in Guatemala.

He has stated in interviews that he would use force against protesters and spoken out against the LGBT community.

"Giammattei has publicly said that he will not tolerate the actions of [protesters] that are part of a democratic system," Claudia Samayoa, the founder  of the Guatemalan human rights organisation UDEFEGUA, told Al Jazeera. 

"He has announced he will pursue evictions. He has said he will have zero tolerance of protests. He has stated he will have zero tolerance of the expressions of gender and LGBT identities. And he has said he will use whatever means against gangs," she said.

"His discourse is extremist."

"Giammattei has shown he is capable of violating human rights in the name of peace," she sadded.

During his period as director of the penitentiary system, he was embroiled in a scandal over extrajudicial killings in a prison in Guatemala.

In 2010 he was arrested following an investigation by the Guatemalan Public Prosecutor's office and the United Nations-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, CICIG, but was acquitted after 10 months in pre-trial detention.

Giammattei denied any wrongdoing and was acquitted of all charges.

Sunday's vote was marked by rampant absenteeism. According to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, only roughly 40 percent of registered voters cast ballots, far lower than they predicted.

The lack of participation is reflective of the frustration with the political options in the 2019 election, analysts said.

"There exists a profound apathy in these elections," Renzo Rosal, an independent political analyst, told Al Jazeera.

"The parties and candidates do not represent anyone."

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2019-08-12 04:34:00Z
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