Traffic resumed on Tuesday, August 13, at Hong Kong airport, where all flights had been canceled the day before after the invasion of the arrivals hall by thousands of pro-democracy protesters. The protesters, however, called to return to the scene in the afternoon.

The passenger recordings began again at dawn on Tuesday, while the display screens indicated a gradual restart of take-offs and landings. But the activity was still far from normal and many flights were canceled, including about 200 for the only company in Hong Kong Cathay Pacific, who asked his travelers to postpone any non-essential travel.

"Hong Kong is not sure"

Some 5,000 protesters, according to the police, continued Monday a fourth day of peaceful sit-in to educate travelers to their cause. Some carried placards reading "Hong Kong is not safe" or "Shame on the police". They accuse the police of resorting to disproportionate violence in order to suppress the rallies.

Protesters are gradually released during the night without police intervention. Only a handful of them were still present Tuesday morning in the terminal, cleaned of all the banners and signs but not yet graffiti on the walls.

"A path without return"

The closing of the eighth busiest international airport in the world (74 million passengers in 2018), a rare measure, was decided Monday when the Chinese central government said to see "signs of terrorism" in the dispute that agitated his region semiautonomous.

The violence perpetrated during the demonstrations will push the city towards "a way without return", warned, Tuesday, the head of the pro-Beijing Hong Kong executive, Carrie Lam. "Violence, whether its use or its apology, will push Hong Kong on a path of no return and plunge the Hong Kong society into a very worrying and dangerous situation," said Carrie Lam at a press conference.

"I ask everyone again to calm down"

"The situation over the past week made me fear that we have reached this dangerous situation," she added. The head of the executive has continued to defend the action of her police, explaining that it was faced with "extremely difficult circumstances" but held by "strict rules on the use of force" .

She dodged the question of a journalist who asked her whether she was planning to finally bury her extradition bill to China, a key demand from the protesters. The examination of the text is currently only suspended. "I ask everyone again to put their differences aside and calm down," she said.

With AFP