Saturday marks the beginning of the 14th straight weekend of planned protests in the Asian financial hub, despite attempts by the Hong Kong government to ease tensions across the city.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced on Wednesday that the controversial China extradition bill would be withdrawn, a longtime demand of demonstrators and one of the main catalysts of the protest movement.
Passengers have been forced to present a boarding pass to enter the international airport since mass demonstrations shut down the transport hub in mid-August. On messaging groups, protesters were urging each other to blend in with travelers to try to enter the terminal undetected. Mong Kok police station has become a focus for demonstrations in the past week after officers entered the nearby Prince Edward subway station on Sunday and forcefully arrested a number of people.
On Friday, peaceful protesters gathered inside the Prince Edward subway station for a sit in to call on the MTR transport corporation to release CCTV of Sunday's incident. "We must find ways to address the discontent in society and look for solutions," Lam said in a a video statement Wednesday evening.
Regular peaceful protests in the airport's arrival hall escalated on August 12 when a surge of demonstrators into Terminal 1 led to the cancellation all flights.
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