Thread by @maryhui

[Thread] Thousands have gathered @ HK airport to protest what many see as the horrific & excessive use of force by police yesterday. Cops disguised as protesters made violent arrests; tear gas & rubber bullets fired inside a train station; a beanbag round fired at a woman's eye

There's a bottleneck to get down to the arrivals hall. Many are up on the departures level, chanting "Five demands, not one less!"

This guy's eyepatch is a direct reference to the female protester who was shot in the eye with a police bean bag round; doctors have said near total blindness expected. Crowds chanting "Corrupt cops return the eye!"—an eye for an eye.

"Carrie Lam, Hong Kong Police: return the eye."

The chanting is thundering and relentless. "Corrupt police, shameless! Return the eye!"

"Return the eye."

This is no doubt how countless people across the city feel right now.

"Shame on HK police!" Protesters lining both sides of the walkway leading from the arrivals home to the train.

"Just one word: angry. Angry at the HK gov & police, & the CCP," said Mr. Lam, a retiree in his 60s. He stayed up all night, crying.

Asked how he sees the protests continuing, he said: "We cannot stop now. We have to see it to the end. If we stop, HK is done for."

I've never heard so much non-stop chanting. At other rallies, there are pauses. Here, the deafening roar of the crowd is ceaseless.

And this is a Monday afternoon, a regular workday. Thousands are packed here, & many more behind me on the other side of the hall.

A middle-aged woman approached me & said, "Ms. Journalist, thank you for all that you do. Add oil." She asked if I had had lunch.

Then she started crying. She'd cried herself to sleep, kept crying upon waking up, & cries every time she thinks of what the police did last night.

Back of the toilet door.

Thousands of protesters at one of the busiest airports in the world, & it's entirely peaceful & orderly. Many sit on the ground, others march slowly around the hall. They are telling the world: we are angry, but we are not violent rioters the government presents us to be.

The departures hall, one level up, is also completely packed.

Protesting police brutality, doing school work.

"An eye for an eye."

Last Friday, another banner strung above the arrivals hall read, "Reclaim Hong Kong, Revolution of our time."

Last week, Carrie Lam said protesters with "no stake in society" were destroying its economy.

Why people are so livid at Lam's comment: it completely demonises & dehumanises protesters.

https://twitter.com/maryhui/status/1160635597465145349?s=21

A collection of protest posters spread out on the floor of the airport.

Mr. & Mrs. Wong handed out paper plates designed to look like eyes—another reference to the woman who had her eye ruptured by a police bean bag round. "The rule of law and law enforcement have completely collapsed," he said.

This woman was holding up a red flag, à la police's warning flags, that said, "Stop shooting us."

When I asked her how she was feeling, she had one word: disturbed.

When I asked her to elaborate, she held up this sign: "We're disturbed & shocked, bc this is unfair & unjust."

As of around 6:30pm, the departures hall (L) appears to be mostly clear, while the arrivals hall (R) continues to be packed

A huge crowd has migrated to march on Airport Road. Per Apple Daily reporter, there were rumours of imminent police action at the airport, so people decided to take the protest outside.