Passengers from Hong Kong were encountered by riot police at metro stations on Monday in tense scenes after a weekend when demonstrators intensified their struggle for democracy in the Chinese-ruled town facing its greatest political crisis in decades.
On Monday, protesters called for a general strike, but the town seemed to be returning to relative calm with open shops, trains running and people making their way to offices across the global financial hub.
Because of a typhoon warning, many primary schools were closed and some elderly kids came to school in hard hats. Students at the university, who often led the protests, were expected to swap classes later in the day for demonstrations.
“No, no, we’re not going on strike. In these times, we need the money,” said Cherry Leung, 47, as she stacked oranges and watermelons at her street stall.
“I think we’ve had enough trouble for now,” she said.
On Sunday, thousands of demonstrators blocked highways and public transport connections to Hong Kong airport in an effort to attract world attention to their effort to force Beijing to offer higher autonomy to the former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Airport authorities said on Sunday 25 flights were cancelled, but transport services had mainly returned to normal.
Some protesters targeted the MTR subway station in neighboring Tung Chung district after leaving the airport on Sunday, pulling out turnstiles and smashing with metal poles cameras and lights from CCTV. Several arrests were made by the police.
Police and demonstrators clashed in some of the most intense violence on Saturday night, as unrest escalated in mid-June over worries that Beijing erodes the territorial liberties of “one country, two systems” agreement.
China rejects the intrusion charge and declares that Hong Kong is an inner affair. It denounced the demonstrations and warned of the harm the protests are causing to the economy with Hong Kong teetering on the verge of recession.
The unrest started over anger at a now-suspended extradition bill that would have enabled individuals in the town to be sent to China for trial in Communist Party-controlled courts.
But over 13 weeks the turmoil has developed into a widespread demand for higher democracy. China is keen to quench the turmoil before the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China’s establishment on Oct. 1.