Washington, Aug 13: Amid massive protests in Hong Kong, US President Donald Trump has tweeted that China is moving troops to the border with Hong Kong.

Trump said that US intelligence has warned that China is moving troops to the border with Hong Kong, amid intensifying anti-government protests in the semi-autonomous financial hub.

"Our Intelligence has informed us that the Chinese Government is moving troops to the Border with Hong Kong. Everyone should be calm and safe!" Trump said in a tweet.

Earlier on Tuesday, Hong Kong's airport authority suspended flights for a second day as protesters staged another rally at the busy international travel hub.

Authorities announced on Monday afternoon the cancellation of all remaining arriving and departing flights from the airport after more than 5,000 black-clad pro-democracy protesters staged a peaceful rally at the building.

The protests intensified after a Chinese official said "terrorism" was emerging in the city, while in Hong Kong authorities demonstrated water cannon for use in crowd control.

Why are people in Hong Kong protesting?

The protests in Hong Kong, which have now intensified into a pro-democracy movement, initially began in June in response to a proposed extradition bill. The bill would have allowed extradition from Hong Kong to mainland China. The proposed extradition bill has now been suspended, but the protests have evolved into a mass political unrest.

Hong Kong was under British rule for a long time and is significantly different from other Chinese cities. Hong Kong was handed over to China by the British in 1997 after 99 year lease ended. Hong Kong enjoys a special status under the principal "one country, two systems" which China and Britain agreed to just a few years before the island city came under Beijing's rule.

Other than foreign and defence affairs, Hong Kong enjoys a high degree of autonomy. Hong Kong has its own legal system and borders, and rights. People of Hong Kong want more autonomy to choose their leader or the chief executive. Hong Kong has a Legislative Council but all the 70 members of this lawmaking body are not elected by the people.The chief executive is elected by a 1,200-member election committee.

People of Hong Kong are demanding democracy as most seats of the Legislative Council that are not directly elected allegedly have pro-China lawmakers. </s> WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump was assailed Tuesday for his hands-off approach to pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, avoiding criticizing Beijing even as Chinese troops massed on the border to the territory.

Critics on both sides of the political spectrum accused Trump of abandoning longstanding US policy to support democratic movements and giving Beijing a green light to intervene in one of the world's most important financial and trade centers, a semi-autonomous Chinese region.

As protestors battled police in Hong Kong's airport Tuesday, partially shutting down air traffic, Trump appeared ambivalent, telling journalists the situation was "very tricky."

"I hope it works out for everybody including China. I hope it works out peacefully, nobody gets hurt, nobody gets killed," he said.

Shortly afterward, Trump tweeted that US intelligence confirmed that Beijing had sent troops to the Hong Kong border.

"Everyone should be calm and safe!" Trump wrote, retweeting a video of People's Liberation Army trucks in the Chinese city of Shenzhen.

But the US leader had no words in support of the protestors as Hong Kong experiences its largest crisis since the British handover of its former colony to China in 1997.

After more than four months of protests, his administration has mainly called for both sides to avoid violence, while denying Beijing's accusations of US interference.

"Trump favors both sides in Hong Kong protests. Hardly a profile in courage," said Nicholas Burns, a former senior US diplomat now at the Harvard University Kennedy School.

"The only side the US should be on is democratic rights for the people of Hong Kong."

The protests, which began in March and have intensified since then, are against a move by the Hong Kong government to allow the extradition of criminal suspects to China, which opponents view as an incursion into Hong Kong's more transparent justice system.

But they have come as Chinese President Xi Jinping's and Trump's governments have plunged ever deeper into a wrenching battle over trade that is dragging down the economies of both, with no sign of a resolution.

In late July Trump praised Xi's approach to the protests, one day after organized triad gangsters attacked protestors, sending 45 to hospitals.

"China could stop them if they wanted," he said.

"I think President Xi of China has acted responsibly, very responsibly," he said.

Days later, he blasted China's trade policies but, regarding the Hong Kong protests, said Beijing "doesn't need advice."

"That's between Hong Kong and ... China, because Hong Kong is a part of China," he said.

Thomas Wright, a foreign policy expert at the Brookings Institution, accused Trump of essentially giving Xi "a green light" to intervene in the territory.

In a tweet Wright called it the "Worst foreign policy decision of his presidency."

His stance on Tuesday contrasted with those of top legislators in Congress.

"30 years after Tiananmen Square all Americans stand with the peaceful protesters in Hong Kong. These protests highlight the moral authority of their demands for Freedom and Democracy," he wrote.

Another Republican, Marco Rubio, rejected the view that the protests were an "internal matter" of China's.

"Given their history of repression, Chinese troops massed on border is cause for grave concern," Rubio wrote.

Democrats meanwhile more directly attacked Trump for what one, Representative Jim McGovern, called "dangerous" language that "invites miscalculation."

"Warn Beijing of serious consequences if it cracks down on peaceful protesters," he told Trump.

Senator Chris Murphy said US support for democracy activists in other countries has long been extremely important.

"It's also hard to overstate how devastating it is when they risk it all to speak up for these 'American' values, and America is silent," he wrote on Twitter.

"This is not foreign policy," he said. </s> China’s Hong Kong Liaison office said on Wednesday that anti-government protesters were no different to “terrorists”, as US president Donald Trump said Chinese troops were moving to the border with Hong Kong and urged calm.

The Beijing-based Hong Kong and Macau Affairs office on Wednesday said extremely violent crimes must be severely punished in accordance with the law.

The strongly worded statements by China’s central government follows violent clashes between black clad protesters and riot police at Hong Kong’s international airport, which saw hundreds of flights halted for a second day.

A few dozen protesters remained at the airport on Wednesday while workers scrubbed it clean of blood and debris. Check-in counters reopened to queues of hundreds of weary travellers who had waited overnight for their flights.

Ten weeks of increasingly violent clashes between police and pro-democracy protesters, angered by a perceived erosion of freedoms, have plunged the Asian financial hub into its worst crisis since it reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997.

China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office said it strongly condemned the “near terrorism criminal actions” in Hong Kong including what it called a violent attack on a mainland Chinese journalist and tourist at the airport.

Police condemned violent acts by protesters overnight and said a large group had “harassed and assaulted a visitor and a journalist”. Some protesters said they believed one of those men was an undercover Chinese agent, while another was confirmed as a reporter from China’s Global Times newspaper.

Five people were detained in the latest disturbances, police said, bringing the number of those arrested since the protests began in June to more than 600.

The protests began in opposition to a now-suspended bill that would have allowed the extradition of suspects for trial in mainland China but have swelled into wider calls for democracy.

Embattled Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has said the city has been pushed into a state of “panic and chaos”.

Demonstrators say they are fighting the erosion of the “one country, two systems” arrangement that enshrined some autonomy for Hong Kong when it returned to China in 1997.

The protests represent one of the biggest challenges for Chinese resident Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.

In Washington, US president Donald Trump said the Chinese government was moving troops to the border with Hong Kong and urged calm.

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has a garrison in Hong Kong but has remained in barracks since the protests started in April. However, the PLA garrison has issued a video showing “anti-riot” exercises, and its top brass have warned violence is “absolutely impermissible”.

As Hong Kong’s political crisis deepens, China denied a request for two US Navy warships to visit Hong Kong in the coming weeks, officials said.

Security at Hong Kong airport on Wednesday was stricter than usual with several entrances closed.

Hong Kong’s Airport Authority said it had obtained an interim court injunction to stop people from obstructing operations and that protesters could only demonstrate in designated areas.

Dicky, a 35-year-old protester at the airport for more than two days, said protesters would obey the injunction.

“We will continue to fight for what we deserve otherwise all of that would have been in vain,” he said, declining to give his full name.

Flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways published a half-page advertisement in the Hong Kong Economic Journal pledging its support for the government and calling for the resumption of the rule of law and social order.

China’s aviation regulator demanded last week that Cathay suspend personnel who engaged in or supported protests in Hong Kong from staffing flights into its airspace. The carrier later suspended two pilots.

Property developers Henderson Land Development, Cheung Kong Holdings and Sun Hung Kai Holdings also took out newspaper advertisement in support of the government on Wednesday.

Forward Keys, a flight data company, said the crisis had deterred people from making travel plans to the city, citing a 4.7 per cent fall in long-haul bookings to Hong Kong between June 16th and August 9th compared with the same period last year.

Statements of apology from protesters were displayed in the airport on Wednesday, promising to allow passengers to depart, to assist medical staff to carry out their duties and not to hinder the work of the press.

“We are not afraid of facing the issues directly...only afraid of losing your support to the whole movement due to our mistake, and that you give up on fighting.” –Reuters </s> Police and protesters have clashed at Hong Kong's international airport after flights were disrupted for a second day as the political crisis in the former British colony deepened.

In Washington, US President Donald Trump said the Chinese government was moving troops to the border with Hong Kong, and urged calm.

Trump said the situation in Hong Kong was tricky but he hoped it would work out for everybody, including China, and "for liberty" without anyone getting hurt or killed.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam warned that the city risked being "smashed to pieces".

Demonstrators who have been protesting for the past nine weeks against Beijing's growing influence in the special administrative region targeted the international airport for a second day on Tuesday.

Thousands of black-clad protesters jammed the terminal chanting, singing and waving banners.

Scuffles broke out in the evening after an injured man was held by a group of protesters.

Some claimed he was an undercover mainland Chinese agent and initially refused to let him leave.

Medics, however, bundled him onto a stretcher and forced their way through jeering throngs to an ambulance.

Several police vehicles were blocked by protesters and riot police moved in amid chaotic scenes, using pepper spray to keep people back.

A policeman pulled out a gun at one point.
• Travel advisory: Australians warned to exercise 'high degree of caution' in Hong Kong

Protesters also barricaded some passageways in the airport with luggage trolleys, metal barriers and other objects.

Others clambered onto check-in counters as the protesters appeared to control part of the airport for a short while. At least two protesters were taken away by police.

Another mainland Chinese man was held and tied down by protesters at the airport after they thought he was posing as a reporter.

The editor-in-chief of the state-run Global Times newspaper, Hu Xijin, tweeted that the man was a journalist with the paper. He was later taken away by ambulance.

The situation calmed down after a few hours without the violence worsening, and the crowds thinned out.

Local media reported that an injunction had been issued by a local court to clear the airport of protesters.

The action followed an unprecedented shutdown of the airport on Monday.

Hong Kong's Airport Authority said operations had been "seriously disrupted" on Tuesday and departing passengers had been unable to reach immigration counters.

The weeks of protests began as opposition to a now-suspended bill that would have allowed suspects to be extradited to mainland China, and have swelled into wider calls for democracy.

Demonstrators say they are fighting the erosion of the "one country, two systems" arrangement that enshrined some autonomy for Hong Kong since China took it back from Britain in 1997.

The increasingly violent clashes between police and protesters have roiled the Asian financial hub. Hong Kong's stockmarket fell to a seven-month low on Tuesday.

The United Nations human rights commissioner Michele Bachelet urged Hong Kong authorities to exercise restraint and investigate evidence of their forces firing tear gas at protesters in ways banned under international law.

China responded by saying her comments sent the wrong signal to "violent criminal offenders". </s> HONG KONG (AP) — Riot police clashed briefly with pro-democracy protesters at Hong Kong’s airport Tuesday night in a chaotic end to a second day of demonstrations that caused mass cancellations and disruptions at the Chinese city’s busy transport hub.

Calm eventually returned, with most of the protesters leaving the airport hours after officers armed with pepper spray and swinging batons tried to enter the terminal, fighting with demonstrators who barricaded entrances with luggage carts. Protesters said they planned to return to the airport early Wednesday.

The burst of violence also included protesters beating at least two men they suspected of being undercover agents and came the same day Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing leader warned that the demonstrators had pushed events onto a “path of no return,” highlighting the hardening positions on both sides.

Police took away several people they caught outside the arrival hall and eventually retreated.

Police said they were trying to help ambulance officers reach an injured man whom protesters had cornered and detained for about two hours on suspicion of being an undercover agent from mainland China. Rescuers eventually succeeded in getting him to an ambulance, local broadcaster RTHK reported.

Protesters then detained and beat a second man whom they also suspected of being an undercover agent.

After a brief period when planes were able to take off and land early in the day, authorities were forced to cancel the remaining flights. The airport authority suspended check-in services for departing flights as of 4:30 p.m., with departing flights that had completed the process able to continue to operate.

The airport’s website showed at least 120 cancellations and it advised people not to come to the airport, one of the world’s busiest.

More than 200 flights were canceled Monday and passengers were forced to stay in the city while airlines tried to find other ways to get them to their destinations.

The airport disruptions escalated a summer of demonstrations aimed at what many Hong Kong residents see as an increasing erosion of the freedoms they were promised in 1997 when Communist Party-ruled mainland China took over what had been a British colony.

The protests have built on an opposition movement that shut down much of the city for seven weeks in 2014 before it eventually fizzled and its leaders were jailed on public disturbance charges.

The central government in Beijing has ominously characterized the current protest movement as something approaching “terrorism” that poses an “existential threat” to citizens.

While Beijing tends to define terrorism broadly, extending it especially to nonviolent movements opposing government policies in minority regions such as Tibet and Xinjiang, its use of the term in relation to Hong Kong raised the prospect of greater violence and the possible suspension of legal rights for those detained.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said the instability, chaos and violence have placed the city on a “path of no return.”

The black-clad demonstrators have shown no sign of letting up on their campaign to force Lam’s administration to respond to their demands, including that she step down and scrap proposed legislation under which some suspects could be sent to mainland China, where critics say they could face torture and unfair or politically charged trials.

Lam has rejected calls for dialogue, part of what analysts say is a strategy to wear down the opposition movement through police action while prompting demonstrators to take more violent and extreme actions that will turn the public against them. At the airport, protesters discussed among themselves whether they should simply block all access to the facility.

Meanwhile, paramilitary police were assembling across the border in the city of Shenzhen for exercises that some saw as a threat to increase force against the mostly young protesters who have turned out by the thousands in the past 10 weeks.

President Donald Trump tweeted that U.S. intelligence believes that the Chinese government is moving troops to its border with Hong Kong. He also tweeted that “Everyone should be calm and safe!” He provided no additional details.

While China has yet to threaten using the army — as it did against pro-democracy protesters in Beijing in 1989 — the Shenzhen exercises were a sign of its ability to crush the demonstrations, even at the cost to Hong Kong’s reputation as a safe haven for business and international exchange. Images on the internet showed armored personnel carriers belonging to the People’s Armed Police driving in a convoy Monday toward the site of the exercises.

The People’s Liberation Army has a garrison in Hong Kong, which recently released a video showing its units combating actors dressed as protesters. Hong Kong police also put on a display of water cannons.

Police have arrested more than 700 protesters since June and say they have infiltrated the movement, leading to concerns that officers were inciting violence. Scores of protesters and police have been hurt, including a woman reported to have had an eye ruptured by a beanbag round fired by police during clashes Sunday.

Police said they are investigating the incident, which protesters have taken up as a rallying cry. Some in the airport occupation wore gauze bandages dyed with artificial blood over one eye.

The U.N.’s top human rights official condemned violence around the protests and urged both sides to settle their dispute through “open and inclusive dialogue.”

Rupert Colville, spokesman for U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, said her office had reviewed evidence that police are using “less-lethal weapons in ways that are prohibited by international norms and standards.” That includes firing tear gas canisters into crowded, enclosed areas and directly at individuals, “creating a considerable risk of death or serious injury,” Colville said in a statement.

In a sign of rising tensions, protesters in the evening detained two men they claimed were undercover police from mainland China. They tied his wrists with plastic strips and poured water over his head. Airport security guards did not appear to be able to stop the crowd.

Sally Tong, an 18-year-old protester, said they needed to hold him as evidence that mainland Chinese authorities are in Hong Kong to monitor the demonstrations. Tong said the man was dressed in black and wore a mask to look like one of them.

“We want to keep him here and investigate,” Tong said. Protesters said the man dropped his wallet when he was running away from them, and they found ID cards from mainland China and also found his name on a list of police officers online.

Protesters also bound the hands of the second man they captured. They grew enraged when they emptied out his belongings and found a blue T-shirt that has been worn by pro-Beijing supporters, which they said was evidence he was a spy.

Protesters said they detained him because he wore a press vest and claimed to be a reporter. They used a nearby U.S. flag to beat the man, who was on the floor in a fetal position, while journalists and pro-democracy lawmaker Kwok Ka-ki, who is a doctor, tried to stop them. The chaotic situation eventually ended when protesters allowed ambulance workers to take the man away on a stretcher.

The Associated Press could not independently verify their identities.

After two months, the protests have become increasingly divisive and prompted clashes across the city.

Demonstrators have recently focused on demanding an independent inquiry into what they call police abuse of power and negligence. That followed reports and video of violent arrests and injuries sustained by protesters.

Some protesters have thrown objects and police, and officials say several officers have suffered injuries.

Lam said dialogue would only begin when the violence ended. She reiterated her support for police and said they have had to make quick decisions under difficult circumstances, using “the lowest level of force.”

“After the violence has been stopped, and the chaotic situation that we are seeing could subside,” Lam said. “I as the chief executive will be responsible to rebuild Hong Kong’s economy … to help Hong Kong to move on.”

She did not elaborate on what conciliatory steps her government will take.

The early protests were in neighborhoods near government offices. However, the airport protest has had a direct impact on business travel and tourism. Analysts said it could make foreign investors think twice about Hong Kong, which has long prided itself as being Asia’s leading business city with convenient regional air links.

“I don’t think I will ever fly to Hong Kong again,” said Kerry Dickinson of South Africa.

The protesters held signs in Chinese and English to appeal to travelers from mainland China and elsewhere. “Democracy is a good thing,” said one sign in simplified Chinese characters.

Adding to the protesters’ anger, Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways told employees the carrier has a “zero tolerance” for them joining “illegal protests” and warned they could be fired. </s> Travelers wait at the check-in counters in the departure hall of the Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2019. Protesters clogged the departure area at Hong Kong’s reopened airport Tuesday, a day after they forced one of the world’s busiest transport hubs to shut down entirely amid their calls for an independent inquiry into alleged police abuse. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

HONG KONG (AP) — The Latest on Hong Kong protests (all times local):

Hong Kong police say they have arrested five people for unlawful assembly, assaulting police officers and possessing weapons after a second day of mass protests at the city’s airport.

Officials said in a statement that some protesters detained, harassed and assaulted a traveler and a journalist, and obstructed ambulance workers from taking the two men to the hospital. They said other protesters attacked a police officer and snatched a baton from him.

A government statement condemned the acts, saying they “have overstepped the bottom line of a civilized society.”

Hong Kong’s busy airport was the latest setting for large-scale pro-democracy protests that have rocked the city for months, with authorities canceling dozens of flights on Monday and Tuesday. Demonstrators say they plan to return to the airport Wednesday.

President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday that U.S. intelligence believes that the Chinese government is moving troops to its border with Hong Kong.

Trump also tweeted that “Everyone should be calm and safe!” He provided no additional details.

Riot police briefly clashed with pro-democracy protesters outside the Hong Kong Airport for the second day on Tuesday though calm returned to the airport in the early hours of Wednesday.

The airport disruptions are an escalation of a summer of demonstrations against what some in Hong Kong see as an increasing erosion of freedoms. The protests have in recent weeks turned to focus on police brutality against demonstrators.

Earlier Tuesday, Trump called the Hong Kong protests a “very tricky situation,” saying he hopes no one is injured or killed.

Most protesters and police have left Hong Kong Airport after a second day of demonstrations that caused mass flight cancellations at the busy transport hub.

Calm returned to the airport in the early hours of Wednesday after riot police briefly clashed with pro-democracy protesters outside the building earlier Tuesday night. Officers armed with pepper spray and swinging batons briefly tried to enter the terminal, while protesters used luggage carts to barricade entrances.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled Tuesday and Monday and passengers have been forced to stay in the city while airlines tried to find other ways to get them to their destinations.

The airport disruptions are an escalation of a summer of demonstrations against what some in Hong Kong see as an increasing erosion of freedoms. The protests have in recent weeks turned to focus on police brutality against demonstrators.

China’s diplomatic mission in Geneva is lashing out at the U.N. human rights office, accusing its spokesman of making a “wrongful statement” about protests in Hong Kong that “sends the wrong signal to the violent criminal offenders.”

In an e-mail to reporters, the mission took issue with comments Tuesday by spokesman Rupert Colville, who expressed concerns about the “escalation of violence” and the firing of tear gas canisters by security forces into crowded areas.

The mission lamented how the demonstrations in Hong Kong “have recently taken a violent turn as some radical mobsters deliberately perpetuated violence … Their behavior has nothing to do with peaceful demonstration.”

It urged the human rights office to “stop interfering in the affairs of Hong Kong.”

Emergency officials have taken an injured mainland Chinese man away from Hong Kong’s airport after angry protesters who accused him of being a Chinese undercover agent tied up his hands and tried to beat him up.

The man was pictured with his hands bound with cable ties, lying in a fetal position on the ground surrounded by a crowd of protesters as demonstrations continued at the airport for a second day and turned tense late Tuesday. Some tried to kick and hit him while others tried to hold the crowd back. Protesters said they detained him because he wore a press vest and claimed to be a reporter, but a mainland Chinese ID card was found in his belongings.

The chaotic situation eventually ended when protesters allowed ambulance workers to take the man away on a stretcher.

Pro-democracy protesters have been sensitive to police infiltration after activists were arrested by officers dressed just like them. Police have acknowledged that they use decoy officers in some operations.

Chaos has broken out at Hong Kong’s airport as riot police move into the terminal to confront protesters who shut down operations at the busy transport hub for two straight days.

Officers armed with pepper spray and swinging batons clashed with protesters who used luggage carts to barricade entrances to the airport terminal on Tuesday night.

Police took several people into a police van waiting at the entrance to the airport’s arrivals hall.

Police said they tried to help ambulance officers reach an injured man whom protesters had detained on suspicion of being an undercover agent.

Protesters also detained a second man whom they suspected of being an undercover agent. After emptying out his belongings, they found a blue T-shirt that has been worn by pro-Beijing supporters that they said was evidence he was a spy.

At least three concerts by overseas performers have been canceled in Hong Kong as protesters forced the city’s airport to suspend operations for a second day.

K-pop star Kang Daniel and Scottish band CHVRCHES both announced Tuesday that they are calling off upcoming events. American singer-songwriter Alec Benjamin canceled an upcoming concert late Monday.

Kang’s management office said the cancellation of a fan meeting scheduled for Sunday was because of safety concerns related to the protests, while CHVRCHES blamed “unforeseen circumstances.”

The airport protests are the latest escalation in a summer of demonstrations aimed at what many in Hong Kong see as an increasing erosion of their freedoms.

The United Nations’ top human rights official has condemned violence in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests and called on the authorities and protesters to solve their dispute peacefully.

A spokesman for U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said she was concerned by the recent “escalation of violence.”

Rupert Colville said the UN Human Rights Office had also reviewed credible evidence that police are using “less-lethal weapons in ways that are prohibited by international norms.”

Tactics by Hong Kong police have become a major issue for protesters.

The rights office urged Hong Kong authorities to investigate examples of officers firing tear gas canisters into crowded, enclosed areas and directly at individual protesters.

Hong Kong’s airport has cancelled all remaining departing flights for the second day after protesters took over the terminals.

The airport authority announced early Tuesday evening that check-in services for departing flights were suspended as of 4:30 p.m. Other departing flights that have completed the process will continue to operate.

It said it did not expect arriving flights to be affected, though dozens of arriving flights were already cancelled.

The authority advised the public not to come to the airport.

Some flights were able to depart and land earlier Tuesday, a day after more than 200 flights were canceled.

The airport’s arrival and departure halls were blocked by thousands of protesters who were gathered in the airport for the fifth consecutive day. They are calling for democratic reforms and an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality.

Thousands of protesters have returned to the Hong Kong airport and are once more threatening regular airline operations just one day after they prompted a full shutdown of one of the world’s busiest transit hubs.

After filling up the arrivals hall, demonstrators are now streaming into the departures area despite increased security measures designed to keep them out.

The black-clad protesters held up signs to appeal to travelers from mainland China and other parts of the world. “Democracy is a good thing,” said one sign in Simplified Chinese characters, which are used in mainland China instead of the Traditional Chinese script of Hong Kong.

One entrance to the immigration area was entirely blocked by protesters and arriving passengers struggled to get through.

More than 100 flights were cancelled as of Tuesday afternoon. Some flights were taking off and going through check-in as airlines worked through the backlog.

Flights have been taking off from the Hong Kong airport as it works through a backlog of cancelled flights while a few thousand protesters have once again occupied the arrival hall.

Some flights Tuesday were still cancelled. It was not immediately clear whether they were affected by the current demonstration, as occurred Monday, when about 200 flights were cancelled and airport completely shut down amid a mass protest.

The airport authority said they were implementing flight rescheduling Tuesday. The authority urged passengers “to use public transportation and allow sufficient time to go to the airport.”

Hong Kong has seen two months of anti-government demonstrations that have increasingly impacted day-to-day operations in the financial hub.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has defended law enforcement actions after protesters prompted an airport shutdown with calls to investigate alleged police brutality.

Airlines early Tuesday were checking in passengers for flights, including those cancelled the previous day because thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators had packed into the airport’s main terminal.

Demonstrators have called for an independent inquiry into what they call the police’s abuse of power and negligence. Some protesters thrown bricks, eggs and flaming objects at police stations.

Lam told reporters that dialogue would only begin when the violence stopped. She reiterated her support for the police and said they have had to make on-the-spot decisions under difficult circumstances, using “the lowest level of force.”

One of the world’s busiest airports was struggling to reopen the morning after thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators crowded into Hong Kong’s main terminal and forced flight cancellations.

Passengers were checking in for flights Tuesday morning in a sign operations were returning to normal, although protesters have shown no sign of letting up on their campaign to force Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s administration to respond to their demands.

About 200 flights had been canceled.

Passengers unable to leave on Monday were among those crowding in the departure hall. </s> WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has warned China that carrying out a Tiananmen Square-style crackdown on Hong Kong pro-democracy protests would harm trade talks between the two countries, in comments that followed a huge, defiant march through the streets of the global finance hub.Hong Kong has been rocked by more than two months of protests and clashes between police and hardcore activists who fear the semi-autonomous city's freedoms are under threat from Beijing.On Sunday, rally organisers said some 1.7 million people turned out for a peaceful march under a sea of umbrellas, defying police orders and stark warnings from China to end the protests.The American president cautioned that any violent effort by China to quell the unprecedented protests would damage trade negotiations."I think it'd be very hard to deal if they do violence, I mean, if it's another Tiananmen Square," Trump told reporters in New Jersey on Sunday. "I think it's a very hard thing to do if there's violence." Trump's comments came as Washington and Beijing look to revive pivotal high-level talks aimed at ending their trade war.The trade dispute between the US and China has been blamed for setting world financial markets on edge amid signs of a possible global economic slowdown.Phone calls between the deputies from two sides are planned for the next 10 days and, if those are successful, negotiations between more senior officials could resume, Trump's chief economic advisor Larry Kudlow said on Sunday.The demonstrations in Hong Kong have tipped into violence, with protesters paralyzing the city's airport last week and tarnishing a campaign that took pride in its peaceful intent.Communist Party-ruled mainland China has in turn sharpened its tone towards the dissidents, decrying the "terrorist-like" actions of a violent minority.State media has broadcast images of military personnel and armored personnel carriers in Shenzhen, across the border from Hong Kong, propaganda read across Hong Kong as intimidation.China deployed tanks to end student-led protests in the bloody 1989 crackdown in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, resulting in an estimated death toll between several hundred to over a thousand.If such a situation was repeated in Hong Kong, "I think there'd be... tremendous political sentiment not to do something," Trump said, referring to the trade negotiations with China.Under a deal signed with Britain, China agreed to allow Hong Kong to keep its unique freedoms when the former crown colony was handed back in 1997.But many Hong Kongers feel those freedoms are being hacked away, especially since China's hardline president Xi Jinping came to power. Trump stopped short of endorsing the protesters, saying, "I'd love to see it worked out in a humane fashion," and calling on Xi to negotiate with the dissidents.Last week, China's state-run daily the Global Times said there "won't be a repeat" of Tiananmen Square in a rare reference to the crackdown."China is much stronger and more mature, and its ability to manage complex situations has been greatly enhanced," the newspaper wrote in an editorial.Analysts say any intervention in Hong Kong by Chinese security forces would be a disaster for China's reputation and economy.The political turmoil was sparked by widespread opposition to a plan for allowing extraditions to the Chinese mainland, but has since morphed into a broader movement for democratic rights in the semi-autonomous city.Sunday's march, billed as a return to the peaceful origins of the leaderless protest movement, was one of the largest rallies since the protests began about three months ago, according to organizers the Civil Human Rights Front </s> Xi, who oversees the PLA in his role as head of the powerful Central Military Commission, repeatedly shouted, "Hello comrades!" and "Comrades, you are working hard!" into four microphones fixed atop his motorcade as martial music blared in the background.

The troops, divided into squadrons of 20, responded in unison: "Hail to you chief!" and "Serve the people!"

Xi's visit to the Shek Kong barracks in a quiet and lush corner of Hong Kong's New Territories came on the second day of his first trip as president to the financial hub, where he is marking the 20th anniversary of the city's handover from British to Chinese rule.

He will oversee the swearing-in of Hong Kong's new leader, Carrie Lam, on Saturday.

Xi and invitation-only guests were treated to troops parading in immaculate uniforms and a military display that included Z8 helicopters, mobile air defense missile trucks, armored cars and light tanks.

His visit comes amid heightened tensions between China and Hong Kong, where many people are concerned at what they perceive to be increasing interference by Beijing in the city's affairs.

Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese rule on July 1, 1997, under a "one country, two systems" formula that guarantees wide-ranging freedoms and judicial independence unseen in mainland China.

More than 100,000 people took to the streets in 2014 to protest against Beijing's refusal to allow full democracy.

The battle for full democracy in Hong Kong has been a defining issue for the city of 7.3 million. It has sown distrust between China and Hong Kong, polarized politics, hampered governance and stoked mass protests.

The presence of the PLA in the city has long been one of the most sensitive parts of the city's reversion to Chinese rule, but the garrison has kept a noticeably low-key presence.

Hong Kong's large and well-equipped police force - dominated by Hong Kong recruits - remains responsible for routine domestic security and was protecting the streets surrounding the base on Friday.

Xi's formal inspection echoed that performed by his predecessor, Hu Jintao, at the same Shek Kong airfield five years ago.

Standing before a bank of microphones in an open-car in sweltering temperatures of more than 30 degrees Celsius ((86 degrees Fahrenheit), Xi reviewed straight-backed ranks of soldiers, sailors and air force personnel, who saluted as he passed.

While its precise numbers are unknown, foreign envoys and diplomats believe the garrison includes between 8,000 and 10,000 personnel, including infantry and special forces troops.

It is split between a network of barracks and facilities inherited from the British military in Hong Kong, as well as bases across the border in Guangdong, where its jet fighter planes are kept.

While Shek Kong is protected by modern air defense systems, much of the garrison is relatively lightly armed, with armored personnel carriers and light tanks on show.

Troops at the base are kept behind barrack walls and well away from entertainment spots and media influences – a far cry from the occasionally rowdy British troops based in Hong Kong. </s> Topline: Britain has expressed concern over media reports that an employee at its consulate in Hong Kong has been detained in mainland China after visiting Shenzhen on August 8.
• Fears were raised after Simon Cheng, 28, failed to turn up to work on August 9. He was due to return from a business meeting in Shenzhen the day before, according to Hong Kong news site HK01. On the night of his planned return, he told his girlfriend over the phone that he was on the train back, before he lost connection.
• A representative from Britain’s consulate in Hong Kong said: “We are extremely concerned by reports that a member of our team has been detained returning to Hong Kong from Shenzhen. We are providing support to his family and seeking further information from authorities in Guangdong and Hong Kong.”
• Cheng, a trade and investment officer who worked in the consulate's Scottish International Development department, has since been reported missing. Cheng’s girlfriend and family believe he has been detained by the Chinese authorities.
• Hong Kong Police said at a press conference on Tuesday it had not been notified by mainland officials over the detention of Cheng.
• Hong Kong’s immigration department confirmed to Reuters that it had received a request for assistance from one of Cheng’s family members, and it said it was assisting the family.

Key background: The disappearance of Simon Cheng cuts to the core of the political crisis that has gripped Hong Kong for the last three months. Millions of Hong Kongers have taken to the streets over the last 11 weeks to voice their opposition to the city government's now-suspended plan to create an extradition bill with mainland China.

Opposition and business leaders in the semi-autonomous Chinese city voiced concerns about the rule of law in China, and the use of "black jails" and the forced disappearances of dissident voices by mainland authorities.

The disappearance of Cheng, a trade official, with the British Consulate in Hong Kong follows reports police at the mainland border were checking travellers' phones for evidence of involvement in the protest movement. Chinese officials and state-media have sabre-rattled for weeks over British and U.S. politicians, including President Donald Trump, speaking out over police crackdowns over the protesters that have broadened to include calls for free elections, and protections of civil liberties guaranteed following the handover of the former British colony in 1997.
U.S. President Donald Trump tweets that U.S. intelligence informed him that China is moving troops to the border with Hong Kong.