Hong Kong protests .. China indignant and Trump on the line of crisis

BEIJING (Reuters) - US President Donald Trump on Wednesday spoke of moving Chinese troops to quell weeks of protests on the island.

In a statement issued today, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council strongly condemned what he called the semi-terrorist acts committed by the protesters yesterday at the airport, where a Chinese journalist was detained along with another person who protesters said was a Chinese secret police and was injured.

Local police intervened at Hong Kong airport to free the detained journalist, and the man, presumed to be a Chinese secret policeman, was evacuated.

Two days ago, Beijing condemned what it saw as violence against Hong Kong police and called for harsher punishments against those involved in the protesters. It said the suppression of what it called mobs, the end of chaos and the restoration of public order were the most urgent task now.

Protests erupted in the first week of June after Hong Kong Chief Executive Kare Lam proposed a bill allowing for the deportation of wanted people to the Chinese mainland.

Although the local government was forced within a week to suspend the project, angry protesters continued to press for the authorities to abolish it permanently, ensure the independence of the judiciary, as well as demand the resignation of the chief executive of the island's largely autonomous, yet sovereign China.

Protesters took their protests over the last four days to the airport, which is one of the most active airports in the world, which necessitated its closure for the first time for some time.The protest inside the airport yesterday became more violent, but the movement of navigation resumed today.The security forces deployed inside the facility and arrested some protesters.

The island's chief executive on Friday called for calm and restraint and warned of serious consequences for violent protests against Hong Kong, which faces the most serious crisis in decades.

On-line
In his first comment on the developments, the US president said yesterday that his country's intelligence reported that the Chinese government was moving troops to the border with Hong Kong.

Trump said in a tweet on Twitter that everyone should be calm and be safe, as he described the situation in that island is very difficult.

Speaking to reporters in New Jersey yesterday, Trump expressed his hope that the crisis would be resolved peacefully and in the interest of freedom and for the benefit of all, including China.

Earlier, China protested contacts between Washington and what it called separatists in Hong Kong, and called on the United States and Britain not to interfere in the crisis.

In connection with the crisis, China has not allowed two US warships to visit Hong Kong's ports, the US Pacific Fleet said.

Calls for calm
Britain, the guarantor of the agreement that moved Hong Kong to China in 1997, called for dialogue and condemned the violence.

The EU also called on all parties involved in the clashes inside Hong Kong airport to show restraint and to calm the situation urgently.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, urged the Hong Kong authorities to exercise restraint and investigate the excessive use of force by security forces against demonstrators.

Although Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997, it has a separate legislative system until 2047 under the principle of "one country, two systems".