Hong Kong airport cancels all departing flights

Hong Kong, Aug 13: Hong Kong's airport authority has suspended flights for a second day as protesters staged another rally at the busy international travel hub.

The unprecedented cancellation of all flights came as Beijing made the latest in an increasingly threatening series of statements. A Chinese official said "terrorism" was emerging in the city, while in Hong Kong authorities demonstrated water cannon for use in crowd control.

Earlier, in the day, the operations at the airports were resumed. "We have resumed check-ins," a spokesman for the airport told AFP, confirming flights would be resuming within the next hour at one of the world's busiest aviation hubs.

The flight status board at the departures hall showed several flights listed as "boarding soon" with new take-off times listed for others. Passengers with luggage were being checked in for flights, and only a handful of the thousands of protesters who flooded into the airport a day earlier remained in the building.

Authorities announced on Monday afternoon the cancellation of all remaining arriving and departing flights from the airport after more than 5,000 black-clad pro-democracy protesters staged a peaceful rally at the building. Throughout the evening, protesters gradually left the airport, but there was no police operation to clear them by force.

By Tuesday morning, many of the posters and signs the protesters had placed throughout the terminals had been taken down, but graffiti -- some reading "an eye for an eye" -- had not yet been cleared.

The protesters adopted the slogan for their demonstration at the airport after a woman suffered a serious face injury, reportedly losing her sight in one eye, at demonstrations that turned violent on Sunday night. Protesters have said they plan to return to the airport later in the day to resume their demonstrations.