Hong Kong airport cancels flights amid anti-government protests

Hong Kong’s airport canceled more than 100 flights on Monday after thousands of people stormed the building to protest the police’s response to demonstrations the night before, The New York Times reported.

The airport said in a statement on Monday that operations had been “seriously disrupted as a result of the public assembly at the airport today,” the Times noted.

The latest protests are reportedly an extension of a three-day sit-in by anti-government demonstrators at the airport that started Friday and was largely peaceful.

{mosads}On Sunday night, however, police reportedly fired tear gas inside a subway station and charged at protesters on an escalator in another station.

Protests that have roiled Hong Kong for over two months began over a proposed bill that would allow criminal suspects to be extradited to China. The bill sparked concerns among locals who fear mainland China’s broadening influence in Hong Kong and see the bill as a threat to their freedoms.

The city was guaranteed a legal system independent of Beijing when it was transferred from British rule under a “one country, two systems” order.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam suspended the controversial bill in June after hundreds of thousands of demonstrators flooded the city, but that was not enough to quell protests.

The protests have gradually transformed into calls for broader democratic reforms, as well as the removal of Lam from office.