Hong Kong Protesters Apologize to Travelers for Flight Suspensions
By Carl Samson
August 15, 2019
A number of Hong Kong protesters have apologized to travelers for holding demonstrations at the Hong Kong International Airport, which ultimately led to the suspension of all departure flights for two consecutive days earlier this week.
Activists occupied the terminal building of the airport on Monday and Tuesday, blocking outbound passengers from advancing to security and immigration checkpoints.
Departure flights were canceled from 4 p.m. (4 a.m. ET) on Monday to 5:15 p.m. (5:15 a.m. ET) on Tuesday.
To make matters worse, the lack of communication and varying information regarding the flights from the airport, airlines and other sources left passengers confused, frustrated and worried.
On Tuesday night, protesters assaulted and bound two mainland Chinese men suspected of being undercover agents — one turned out to be a journalist from the state-run Global Times.
Flights finally resumed on Wednesday, with officials beginning to check boarding passes and passports at the entrance of the departures hall from 2 p.m. (2 a.m. ET), according to CNN.
In the aftermath of the violence, several protesters returned to the airport to apologize for causing inconvenience to travelers.
“Dear tourists, we’re deeply sorry about what happened yesterday. We were desperate and we made imperfect decisions. Please accept our apology,” one poster read.
Others took to social media to say sorry. Joshua Wong, a leading figure in the city’s Umbrella Movement in 2014, described it as “sick” in a tweet.
“Our demonstration aims to peacefully raise the awareness of the global community, as well as response from the HK Gov on the five demands from the public of HK,” Wong wrote. “To all the reporters, ambulance staff, airport staff and affected passengers, we again would like to express oir [sic] deepest apology to all the inconvenience and disruptions.”
Another statement, which reportedly made rounds on Telegram, apologized for incidents in which protesters “may have appeared aggressive.”
“We regret if you have come across incidents where protesters may have appeared aggressive, and we apologize again for the inconvenience you might experience during our fight for freedom and democracy.”
Meanwhile, the administration team of the Telegram group for the airport sit-in announced a suspension of the protests.
“What happened on Tuesday is not perfect but it does not mean that the sit-in is officially terminated,” the team said, according to the South China Morning Post. “What we need to do now is to look forward, to maintain confidence in ourselves and our peers, to reflect on our deeds, and to believe that we will perform better next time.”
Featured Image via Twitter / @joshuawongcf
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