Page 11 - ARUBA TODAY

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WORLD NEWS Monday 2 SepteMber 2019

Protesters block roads near Hong Kong airport

By VINCENT YU posed extradition bill as an
KATIE TAM erosion of that “one coun-
Associated Press try, two systems” frame-
HONG KONG (AP) — Anti- work. It would have allowed
government protesters crime suspects to be sent
blocked roads near Hong to the mainland, where the
Kong’s airport with burning Communist Party controls
barricades and damaged the court system.
a train station Sunday after Lam, the Hong Kong lead-
a night of violent clashes er, suspended work on the
with police. law but protesters want
Train and some bus service it withdrawn completely.
to the airport on the outly- They also have called for
ing island of Chek Lap Kok Lam’s resignation and
were suspended. Some democratic elections.
passengers walked to the Also Sunday, demonstra-
airport, one of Asia’s busi- tors outside the British Con-
est, carrying their luggage. sulate called on London to
Hong Kong has been the grant citizenship to people
scene of tense anti-gov- born before the former col-
ernment protests for nearly ony was returned to China.
three months. The demon- About 200 people waved
strations began in response British flags and chanted
to a proposed extradition Pro-democracy protestors leave after riot police arrive outside the airport in Hong Kong, Sunday, “Equal rights now!” and
law and have expanded Sept.1, 2019. “Stand with Hong Kong!”
to include other grievanc- Associated Press A saxophonist in dark glass-
es and demands for more tation. They blocked buses and broke open a fire hose tween protesters and po- es played “God Save the
democracy and the resig- arriving at the airport but valve, sending water gush- lice. Queen,” the British national
nation of the semiautono- police in riot helmets kept ing across the floor. On Saturday, protesters anthem. Many wanted Brit-
mous Chinese territory’s them out of the terminal. Protesters set up barricades threw gasoline bombs at ain to grant citizenship to
leader. The government said some on two adjacent streets government headquarters. people born in Hong Kong
The protests are an embar- protesters threw objects and set fire to some of Police stormed a subway before 1997. Instead of
rassment to China’s ruling at police. It also said iron them. Firefighters arrived a car and hit passengers with citizenship, London gave
Communist Party ahead poles, bricks and rocks few minutes later to douse clubs and pepper spray. Hong Kong people “British
of Oct. 1 celebrations of its were thrown onto tracks of the blaze. A total of 63 people were National Overseas” pass-
70th anniversary in power. the airport train. Protesters left the area af- arrested at the Mong Kok, ports that can be used for
The protesters complain Bei- At least 26 flights from Hong ter busloads of riot police Yau Ma Tei and Prince travel but not to settle in
jing and the government of Kong and 17 to the city in green fatigues with black Edward subway stations, the United Kingdom.
Hong Kong Chief Executive had been canceled as of helmets and riot shields police announced. The “I hope the British govern-
Carrie Lam are eroding the 7:55 p.m., the South China flooded into the train sta- youngest was a 13-year-old ment can change its na-
autonomy and civil liberties Morning Post newspaper tion. boy accused of possessing tionality law,” said a pro-
promised when the former reported, citing information Passengers arriving down- two gasoline bombs. tester, Gary Law.
British colony was returned from the airport. town on a ferry from Lan- The protests erupted in On Saturday, protesters
to China in 1997. After protesters began to tau Island, where Tung early June in Hong Kong, took to the streets after po-
On Sunday, the MTR Corp. stream away from the air- Chung is located, were be- whose 7.4 million people lice refused permission for a
suspended train service port in the late afternoon, ing searched by police and were promised a “high de- march to mark the fifth an-
to the airport after several some attacked a train sta- asked for identity cards, the gree of autonomy” under niversary of a decision by
hundred protesters gath- tion in the adjacent Tung newspaper said. an agreement between China against fully demo-
ered there following calls Chung area. They used The protests followed a Beijing and London. cratic elections in Hong
online to disrupt transpor- metal bars to smash lights night of violent clashes be- Opponents saw the pro- Kong.q