Hong Kong Train Service Restored After Protesters Disrupt Rush
Delays on Hong Kong Trains as Protesters Disrupt Morning Rush
(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong’s railway operator said trains had resumed normal service after a small group of anti-government protesters disrupted the city’s notoriously busy morning rush, stranding crowds of commuters on platforms at a main station.
Trains on the Island Line, which cuts through the the city’s financial center, had returned to their regular schedule, the MTR Corp., Hong Kong’s urban rail operator, said in a statement Wednesday. Earlier, the company had warned that travel times were extended by 10-15 minutes due to “a number of train door obstruction incidents.”
Protesters who have been campaigning for weeks against Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s bid to ease extraditions to mainland China had said they planned to interrupt the morning service. The move came after dozens of protesters and other passengers were injured Sunday when mobs of stick-wielding men attacked them at a train station in the northern suburb of Yuen Long.
Some protesters Wednesday wore surgical masks to hide their identities and were seen on platforms at Admiralty station shouting at police officers as commuters stood in long lines to board trains. At least one demonstrator wore a hard hat with a note commemorating Sunday’s violence on it. Police removed at least three protesters who were obstructing train doors. Some passengers shouted insults at the demonstrators disrupting their commutes.
--With assistance from Dominic Lau and Fion Li.
To contact the reporters on this story: Stephen Tan in Hong Kong at ztan39@bloomberg.net;Karen Leigh in Hong Kong at kleigh4@bloomberg.net;Justin Chin in Hong Kong at hchin15@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Fion Li
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