Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam says protests making city 'dangerous place'

Thousands take part in a second day of sit-in protest at the airport in Hong Kong on Saturday. Pic/PTI

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Tuesday said that the violent acts by protesters, paralysing the city's airport the day before, pushed the region to a point of no return and making it a dangerous place.

"The events that took place over the past week have changed the Hong Kong society, it has become unsafe and unstable. Violence and connivance are pushing Hong Kong to where there is no way back and making it a dangerous place ... Yesterday's paralyzed airport, the Cross-Harbour Tunnel blockade, attacks on police stations, Molotov cocktails and smoke bombs attacks have plunged Hong Kong into the vortex of chaos," Lam said while briefing the media about the incident.

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She also urged all sides to resolve their disagreements to prevent "previously open, free, inclusive" and economically stable Hong Kong from a catastrophe, Sputnik News Agency reported. All flights to and from Hong Kong International Airport were reportedly cancelled on Monday after a massive sit-in inside the terminals caused disruption. This was a dramatic point of escalation of the massive crisis that hit the city 10 weeks ago.

Mass rallies erupted in the Hong Kong in early June as the authorities considered adopting a bill that would allow the autonomous Chinese city to extradite suspects to jurisdictions with whom it did not have an extradition agreement, including mainland China. After coming under pressure by the protests, the government indefinitely suspended the bill and Lam reportedly issued a public apology. However, the protesters still demand the complete withdrawal of the extradition amendments and also call for investigations into the actions of police during previous protests, a report by Sputnik News Agency said.

With inputs from PTI and Sputnik News

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