Hong Kong - Hong Kong's airport halted flights on Monday, blaming demonstrators for the disruption, while China said the anti-government protests that have swept the city over the past two months had begun to show "sprouts of terrorism".
China's People's Armed Police also assembled in the neighbouring city of Shenzhen for exercises, the state-backed Global Times newspaper said. The Communist Party's official People's Daily newspaper said on the Twitter-like Weibo that the force can handle incidents including riots or terrorist attacks.Crowds picketed a police station, singing hymns.
The protests began in opposition to a bill allowing extraditions to the mainland for trial in Communist-controlled courts, but have widened to highlight other grievances, winning broad support. The activists at the airport have been polite and passengers mostly unperturbed. "I was expecting something, given all the news," one arrival, Gurinda Singh, told Reuters. "I'm just pleased my plane arrived and the protests here seem peaceful."
About 190 flights were affected, Chinese aviation data firm VariFlight said, though planes already en route to Hong Kong were allowed to land.