Two days after the clashes between protesters and the police, Hong Kong's Monday saw new protests.
Black-clad demonstrators blocked the doors of numerous subways in the morning rush hour and kept them from driving on. There were significant delays. The Hong Kong subway network is used daily by millions of passengers.
Jae C. Hong / DPA
For the time being no onward journey: demonstrators block underground doors on Monday morning
In front of several schools in the Chinese Special Administrative Region, students also formed long chains of people before the beginning of the lesson. Some wore gas masks, helmets, and goggles that protect the Hong Kong democracy activists from tear gas from the police.
Two-week university boycott planned
The protest movement also called for a new general strike. For the afternoon, students have announced a demonstration. At the Hong Kong universities this Monday starts again after the summer break. However, students involved in the protest movement plan a two-week university boycott.
In Hong Kong, there have been mass protests for more democracy and increasing influence from Beijing for three months now. The demonstrators fear an increasing curtailment of their greater civil liberties compared to mainland China.
The new protests on Monday followed a weekend of heavy clashes. On Saturday, a rally had escalated as some demonstrators set fire to a barricade on a major road near Hong Kong's police headquarters. The police used tear gas, batons and water cannon with blue paint against the demonstrators.
On Sunday, activists again besieged the Hong Kong airport and blocked several access roads. At least a dozen flights were canceled.
Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific warned its employees not to participate in the planned general strike on Monday. A general strike on 5 August, during which life in the otherwise bustling metropolis almost came to a standstill, had been supported by the flight attendant union. Cathay Pacific has since terminated at least four employees who supported the protest movement.
