The deepening acrimony was on display again Sunday as protesters halted the express train to the Hong Kong international airport by throwing objects on the track and used luggage carts and street signs to build barricades around the airport and block police from entering. Flights were delayed as riot police moved in and protesters fled. They regrouped at nearby Tung Chung subway station, where they scribbled graffiti, broke counter windows, smashed CCTV cameras, flooded the floor with a fire hose and set fire to a barricade.
At one point, protesters burned the Chinese national flag, a red line sure to rouse anger in China, where state media condemn the protesters as secessionists, mobsters, rioters and criminals. Authorities have further raised tensions by moving troops close to the Hong Kong border. The continuing mayhem follows a Saturday night in which police went to new extremes in violence in their efforts to contain the protest movement.
At the Prince Edward Mass Transit Railway Station, they beat and pepper sprayed protesters who were not offering resistance. Public outrage ensued, and it was only exacerbated by video circulated on social media Sunday showing a policeman at the airport beating a protester who was lying down, not fighting back.