Outbound Flights Take Off Again From Airport

Flights are operating again at Hong Kong International Airport after outbound flights were cancelled on Tuesday for a second day in row due to mass anti-extradition protests there. The Airport Authority's app showed only a few cancellations for Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, the Airport Authority says it has been granted an injunction order to ban anyone from illegally or intentionally disrupting the normal usage of the airport. The Authority also says people will be banned from attending any protests or public events outside areas designated by them. The injunction notice will be displayed at the airport shortly.

The move follows ugly scenes at the airport last night, as anti-extradition demonstrators held at least two people captive who they believed to be agents or infiltrators.

The protesters cornered the first man at around 9 pm, saying he was a mainland security officer. Police stormed the building at around 11 pm and the man - who appeared to have fallen unconscious - was finally taken to hospital.

One officer briefly pointed his gun after coming under frenzied attack by protesters. The officers retreated after the victim had been evacuated, although the demonstrators tried to stop the ambulance from leaving by blocking it with baggage carts.

Later the protesters assaulted and tied up another mainland man who they accused of taking close-up head-shots of people with his mobile phone. The editor of the mainland Global Times newspaper later said that he was one of their reporters and had just been covering events.

Demonstrators have been wary of police, or others disguising themselves as protesters or reporters, since black-clothed "decoy" officers helped arrest people during clashes at the weekend.

Legislators Fernando Cheung and Kwok Ka-ki attempted to calm the situation. Kwok appealed to the mob, saying: "The whole world is watching, don't mete out extrajudicial punishment."

However, the crowd accused the man of being involved in previous attacks on demonstrators after they found a T-shirt saying "I love HK police" in his bag. Paramedics were finally able to take the man out on a stretcher at around midnight.

Most of the protesters left the airport in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The government condemned last night's violence, saying a traveller and a reporter had been assaulted and an ambulance crew had been obstructed. It also criticised the attack on the police officer.

The government described the attacks as outrageous and said police would take "relentless" enforcement action to bring those involved to justice.

Police say they have arrested five persons for offences including unlawful assembly, possession of offensive weapons, assaulting police officers and breaching of the peace. They said two police officers had been injured and sent to North Lantau Hospital.

Separately, US president Donald Trump caused confusion in the early hours of the morning Hong Kong time when he tweeted "Our Intelligence has informed us that the Chinese Government is moving troops to the Border with Hong Kong. Everyone should be calm and safe!". It was unclear what the president was referring to but there have recently been drills close to the border.

A few minutes beforehand President Trump had also tweeted "Many are blaming me, and the United States, for the problems going on in Hong Kong. I can't imagine why?"