Chinese state media have ramped up the rhetoric against Hong Kong's pro-democracy campaigners, describing them on Tuesday as "mobsters", warning they must never be appeased and raising the spectre of mainland security forces intervening to quash them.

On Monday, Beijing described unrest and clashes in Hong Kong -- which started as opposition to a proposed extradition law but morphed into calls for democratic reform -- as "terrorism emerging".

Chinese state media has repeatedly issued harsh criticism of the protests, which are the biggest threat to Beijing's rule in the semi-autonomous city since the handover in 1997.

The official state news agency Xinhua warned in a commentary Tuesday that "violent radicals" were pushing Hong Kong into an "abyss" and warned there should be no compromise to their demands.

"Any connivance or support for the mobsters, any appeasement of them, or sophistry and excuses for them are an insult and defamation of the Hong Kong police force guarding their homeland," the commentary said, adding that the unrest posed "great harm to Hong Kong's overall interests".

The nationalistic tabloid The Global Times said the "most extreme demonstrators have been attacking the police and using increasingly dangerous weapons".

"Their hysterical purpose is to paralyse the SAR government and combat the authority of the police," the newspaper said in a commentary.

On its nightly news broadcast on Monday evening, state broadcaster CCTV called the protests "extreme acts of violence (which are) tantamount to blatant murder".

"Those Hong Kong chaotic elements are a sludgy, muddy water in the historical torrent, which will be cleaned up," the news anchor said.

In a video posted on its Weibo channel, a CCTV anchor warned viewers: "When dealing with terrorism, there is no soft hand."

The stern words came as videos were widely circulating on social media of Chinese military and armoured vehicles appearing to gather in the southern city of Shenzhen.

The Global Times and the People's Daily ran a minute-long video compiling clips of armoured personnel carriers and troop carriers purportedly driving to Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong.

The video shows roughly two dozen armoured carriers apparently driving through the southern city of Guangzhou and other troop carriers leaving eastern Fujian province.

Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the state-run Global Times, said on social media that the military presence is a sign that if the situation in Hong Kong doesn't improve, China will intervene.

"If the violent elements in Hong Kong do not understand this principle and fail to see the signal of the gathering of armed police in Shenzhen, their actions will be self-destructive," he wrote on Weibo, saying it was "easy for the state to smash the set of thugs" in Hong Kong.

"If they do not pull back from the cliff and continue to push the situation further beyond the critical point, the power of the state may come to Hong Kong at any time."

Stranded passengers voice support for Hong Kong protesters
Hong Kong (AFP) Aug 13, 2019 - Travellers in Hong Kong's airport voiced support for pro-democracy demonstrators on Tuesday, despite an overnight occupation of the international transit hub that saw tens of thousands of passengers stranded.

The airport, one of the busiest in the world, reopened on Tuesday morning but hundreds of flights remained cancelled and several hundred protesters returned for a fresh rally on Tuesday afternoon.

Monday's abrupt closure came 10 weeks into a crisis that has seen millions of people take to Hong Kong's streets in the biggest challenge to Chinese rule of the semi-autonomous city since its 1997 handover from Britain.

"It may affect me, but I still know what they are doing and I support them so it doesn't matter, said 27-year-old advertising worker Mag Mak, whose flight back home to Hong Kong from Dubai was delayed by five hours.

"I think the government is so rubbish and they don't have any response to the protesters," she added.

Frank Filser, 53, was struggling to reschedule a flight back to Germany to visit his father who has terminal cancer.

But he said he sympathised with the protesters despite the disruption.

"They fight for Hong Kong and that's their view," he said.

"Anytime I can go back to Germany, but what about the people who grew up here? This is their home."

Real estate worker Tibor, a long-term foreign resident of Hong Kong, was waiting at the terminal for a rescheduled flight after his journey on Monday was cancelled.

He said he understood the protests because "it's really frustrating to live in a society where your government is not really having a dialogue with their own people".

A wide cross-section of Hong Kong has taken to the streets in recent weeks to show their support for the pro-democracy movement and condemn the police response to protests, including rallies of elderly residents and civil servants.

But the movement has divided parts of the city, with small demonstrations in support of police and the government, and scuffles breaking out between pro-Beijing residents and protesters in some neighbourhoods.

Some passengers at the airport took a less forgiving view of the occupation.

The nationalistic Chinese tabloid the Global Times tweeted footage of one irate Australian passenger who confronted young demonstrators and told them to "go get a job".

Others told AFP they were angry at having their travel plans frustrated.

"I don't mind what they [the protesters] do but they made us five hours delayed," said 50-year-old Wing Au-yeung, who had stopped off in the city to collect his aged mother before travelling to South Korea with his family.

"They can do what they want but it should not affect other people."

Hong Kong's leader warns city faces 'path of no return'
Hong Kong (AFP) Aug 13, 2019 - Violent protests are driving Hong Kong down a "path of no return", the city's leader warned Tuesday as its airport struggled to recover from an unprecedented shutdown triggered by a rally and authorities in Beijing sent more ominous signals that the unrest must end.

The airport, one of the busiest in the world, re-opened on Tuesday morning but hundreds of flights remained cancelled and protesters called for a new rally there later in the day.

The abrupt closure came 10 weeks into a crisis that has seen millions of people take to Hong Kong's streets in the biggest challenge to Chinese rule of the semi-autonomous city since its 1997 handover from Britain.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam warned Tuesday of the dangerous consequences facing the city, one of Asia's most important financial hubs, if escalating violence at the rallies was not curbed.

"Violence, no matter if it's using violence or condoning violence, will push Hong Kong down a path of no return, will plunge Hong Kong society into a very worrying and dangerous situation," Lam said.

"The situation in Hong Kong in the past week has made me

very worried that we have reached this dangerous situation."

Lam, who faced fierce questioning from local reporters and at one point appeared to be on the verge of tears, appealed for calm.

"Take a minute to think, look at our city, our home, do you all really want to see it pushed into an abyss," Lam said, although she again refused to make any concessions to the protesters.

- Hong Kong airport reopens -

At Hong Kong airport, operations resumed early on Tuesday morning, a day after thousands of protesters converged on it.

But the chaos was far from over, with a massive backlog of flights to clear.

Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong's flagship airline, on Tuesday morning listed more than 200 flight cancellations and urged customers to postpone non-essential travel from Hong Kong.

Frank Filser, 53, was struggling to reschedule a flight back to Germany to visit his father who has terminal cancer.

But he said he sympathised with the protesters despite the disruption.

"They fight for Hong Kong and that's their view," he said.

"Anytime I can go back to Germany, but what about the people who grew up here? This is their home."

Only a handful of protesters remained at the airport and it was unclear how many would respond to calls on social media to return later in the day.

Many of the posters and artwork the protesters had hung throughout the airport on Monday were taken down, but graffiti -- some reading "an eye for an eye" -- could still be seen in several places.

The protesters adopted the slogan after a woman suffered a serious facial injury that reportedly caused her to lose the vision in one eye at a demonstration that turned violent on Sunday night.

The demonstrators have accused police of causing the injury by firing a bean-bag round, and cite the case as evidence of what they say has been an excessive and disproportionate response by police to their protests.

- China warns on 'terrorism' -

The protests began in opposition to a bill that would have allowed extraditions to the mainland, but quickly evolved into a broader bid to reverse a slide of rights and freedoms in the southern Chinese city.

The demonstrations have become increasingly violent, with police using tear gas and rubber bullets, and protesters sometimes hurling bricks and bottles.

Authorities in Beijing on Monday slammed violent protesters who threw petrol bombs at police officers, linking them to "terrorism".

"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.

Hours later, two state media outlets ran videos showing armoured personnel and troop carriers purportedly driving to Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong.

China's state-run media on Tuesday then sought to ramp up the pressure.

"Black-clad mobsters have created an atmosphere of terror on the Hong Kong streets," the official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary.

A senior official in the administration of US President Donald Trump on Monday urged "all sides" to avoid violence in Hong Kong.

"Societies are best served when diverse political views are respected and can be freely and peacefully expressed," the official said on condition of anonymity.

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