Hong Kong is an important financial hub for China. This city, important to China's economy has been under turmoil for ten weeks now. Protests that began as a way to oppose an extradition bill, has now turned into pro-democracy demonstrations.
Protesters, last week, took to the airport to made their views heard. They had a sit-in at the Hong Kong international airport, one of the busiest in the world. Beijing slammed the protesters for 'terrorist-like' acts after two men were beaten by demonstrators.
Activists blockaded two terminals in the city on Tuesday in the latest escalation of the political crisis that has gripped the international finance hub and forced the closure of the airport. The latest event has caused the price of Cathay Pacific airlines to drop. The number of tourists to the city have reduced too.
A small group of protesters also surrounded, tied up and beat a man wearing a yellow journalist vest — whom the editor of China's state-controlled Global Times identified as one of the paper's reporters — and another man Beijing said was a Shenzhen resident visiting Hong Kong.
"We express the strongest condemnation of these terrorist-like actions," said Xu Luying, a spokeswoman at the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs of the State Council, who called the two men "mainland China compatriots."
The actions of the protesters "seriously damage the international image of Hong Kong, and seriously hurt the feelings of a vast number of mainland China compatriots", said Xu, saying the "extremely abominable violent crime must be severely punished according to the law". He also added that the council supports the Hong Kong police force and the judiciary.
The protesters feel that once autonomous rule ends in 2045, China can impose a communist rule on the city.
The protesters have been at the receiving end of riot control police who have used tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets against them. The protests, despite this, show no signs of ending soon. Police have even infiltrated protest groups wearing black t-shirts and yellow hard harts to make arrests.
While Beijing seems to be wanting to curb the protests, Prime Ministers of Australia and Canada are asking leaders in the mainland to de-escalate the situation by listening to demands of the protesters.
