Hong Kong's airport has reopened but its administrator has warned that flight movements will still be affected.
Aussie travellers are among those facing major delays after thousands of pro-democracy protesters descended on Hong Kong's international airport, forcing authorities to shut it down.
Despite the airport reopening, Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific said it had cancelled more than 200 flights to and out of the airport, according to its website.
The airport, one of the world's busiest, blamed demonstrators for halting flights on Monday, but the exact trigger for the closure was not clear as protesters occupying the arrivals hall for the past five days have been peaceful.
Most protesters had left the airport shortly after midnight, with about 50 protesters still there on Tuesday morning.
"Hong Kong International Airport will implement flight rescheduling today with flight movements expected to be affected," said a notice published on the Hong Kong International Airport's official mobile app on Tuesday.
Cathay Pacific said it would only operate a limited number of flights for connecting passengers. Airport flight boards showed the likes of Emirates Airline and Virgin Australia had flights scheduled to depart on Tuesday.
Qantas cancelled three flights to Australia on Monday night.
Three outbound services due to leave on Tuesday have also been cancelled: QF97 out of Brisbane, QF29 out of Melbourne and QF127 out of Sydney.
Two Virgin Australia flights due to leave Australia on Monday night were also cancelled.
Australian travellers stuck in Hong Kong have described chaotic scenes at the airport.
"Quite eye-opening to arrive from Paris into a sea of protests and find my onward flight to Sydney no longer existed," Australian Paul Dennett tweeted on Monday.
Anyone planning to travel between Australia and Hong Kong has been urged to check with their airline.
China on Monday said protests in the Asian financial hub, which started as opposition to a now suspended extradition bill to mainland China but expanded into wider calls for democracy, had reached a "critical juncture".
"Protesters have been frequently using extremely dangerous tools to attack the police in recent days, constituting serious crimes with sprouts of terrorism emerging," said Hong Kong and Macau Affairs office spokesman Yang Guang in Beijing.
Some Hong Kong legal experts say the official description of terrorism could lead to the use of anti-terror laws.
Protesters say police have used excessive force, firing tear gas and bean bag pellets at close range, and are calling for an independent inquiry into the crisis.
The increasingly violent demonstrations have plunged the Chinese-ruled territory into its most serious crisis in decades, presenting Chinese leader Xi Jinping with one of his biggest challenges since he came to power in 2012.
Demonstrators say they are fighting the erosion of the "one country, two systems" arrangement enshrining some autonomy for Hong Kong when China took it back from Britain in 1997.
Hong Kong is the eight busiest by passenger traffic, handling 73 million passengers a year. The airport has been filled with anti-government protesters for four days.
@flyspicejet Hong Kong down with protests. International airport closed. Demonstrations in full swing in Hong Kong. Hong Kong International Airport closed for the next 3 days. Over 200 flights cancelled. Airlines should cancel the flights and refund the entire booking amount. — Parul (@Parul88813081) August 9, 2019
Amazing that in order to thwart a peaceful protest the Hong Kong government has completely closed it’s international airport, a (the?) major transport hub in the region. And now they’re sending in violent riot police to clear the protestors. — TonyDee (@tgR_tsuru) August 12, 2019
Serious injuries
At the airport, protesters held signs reading "Hong Kong is not safe" and "Shame on police".
They accuse the force of using increasingly violent and disproportionate tactics to suppress protests.
Over the weekend police fired tear gas into subway stations and crowded shopping streets in confrontations with protesters at nearly a dozen locations across the city.
Protesters responded by hurling bricks and spraying riot police with fire extinguishers and water hoses.
Demonstrators were also enraged at police apparently dressing in the black T-shirts worn by the pro-democracy movement to infiltrate the rallies and make surprise arrests.
Officials said 45 people were hurt in the clashes.
Among them was a woman who was reportedly hit by a bean bag round.
Images of her lying on the ground with blood pouring from her face quickly went viral and featured on posters calling for new demonstrations, including some reading "an eye for an eye".
The expression was also spray-painted in Chinese at several places in the airport, where many demonstrators wore eye patches or bandages in solidarity with the wounded woman.
'More and more dangerous'
"It is becoming more and more dangerous, but if we don't still come out at this point, our future will become more frightening, and we will lose our freedoms," one 22-year-old protester who gave her family name as Chan said.
The city's transport chief Frank Chan said that Hong Kong would pay a "heavy price" for the airport's closure.
In Beijing, authorities slammed violent protesters who threw petrol bombs at police officers, linking them to "terrorism".
A group of plainclothes officers, disguised as protesters, launched a surprise operation to arrest protesters outside SOGO department store in Causeway Bay. At least a dozen were arrested. The officers refused to answer reporters' questions on their identity.#HongKong #antiELAB pic.twitter.com/P3WzYCJdu7 — Hong Kong Free Press (@HongKongFP) August 11, 2019
Police would only use the trucks in the event of a "large-scale public disturbance" leading to "casualties, property being destroyed wantonly, or public order and public safety coming under grave threat", senior superintendent Chan Kin-Kwok told lawmakers.
The vehicles are "one of our options for our use of force or special tactics," he added during the Monday presentation.
"Hong Kong's radical demonstrators have repeatedly used extremely dangerous tools to attack police officers, which already constitutes a serious violent crime, and also shows the first signs of terrorism emerging," said Yang Guang, spokesman for the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council.
"This wantonly tramples on Hong Kong's rule of law and social order."
Later Monday, two state media outlets ran videos showing armoured personnel and troop carriers purportedly driving to Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong.
A commentary early Tuesday in China's official Xinhua news agency spoke of "black-clad mobsters" and said Hong Kong's future is at a "critical juncture".
"Societies are best served when diverse political views are respected and can be freely and peacefully expressed," the official said on condition of anonymity.
International eyes on China
A senior official in the administration of US President Donald Trump urged "all sides" to avoid violence in Hong Kong, while calling for political tolerance.
"Societies are best served when diverse political views are respected and can be freely and peacefully expressed. The United States urges all sides to refrain from violence," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Mr Trump has so far been muted on the growing unrest in Hong Kong, saying it is an internal affair for China, while acknowledging that the protesters "are looking for democracy."
With the US engaged in a growing trade war with China, Mr Trump has been notably reluctant to get involved in the drama.
"That's between Hong Kong and... China," he told reporters at the White House on 1 August.
"They don't need advice."
However, a month earlier, he angered Beijing by saying that "most people want democracy. Unfortunately, some governments don't want democracy."
"That's what it's all about. It's all about democracy," the US president said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also urged China to be "very careful" in how it responds to the pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong and to heed their "legitimate" demands.
"We're extremely concerned about the situation in Hong Kong," he told a press conference.
"We're calling for peace, for order, for dialogue," he said. "We certainly call on China to be very careful and very respectful in how it deals with people who have legitimate concerns in Hong Kong."
With AFP and AAP...
