It’s definitely not the most beautiful time of the year for an airport in Hokkaido, Japan.
On Friday night, numerous flights at the New Chitose Airport were cancelled due to a heavy snowstorm. As a result, about 6,000 passengers were stranded.
With disrupted holiday plans, around 100 mainland Chinese tourists started to rant by 8 p.m., Shanghaiist reported. Japanese police arrived to pacify the situation.
However, it all ended in a violent brawl.
As seen in one footage, a swarm of passengers is seen pushing their way through the departure gate, clashing with authorities. Protests also escalated.
Sean Fitzpatrick, traveling with his wife and two young sons, left the airport when he found it no longer safe. He said (via South China Morning Post):
“We took the initiative to get out of that airport simply because we couldn’t put our kids through another night of this intensity.”
Fitzpatrick was shocked as he saw mainland passengers attack airport staff:
“It was absolutely crazy that the situation flared up so quickly. The group started chanting and made things very tense and wrapped the atmosphere up into almost a riot situation.”
A total of 28 flights were hung as the storm dumped 960 mm of snow, authorities said.
Check out the brawl below:
