Briefs | Demonstrators swarm airport, disrupting flights

Hong Kong protesters caused major disruptions to the city’s international airport yesterday, massing outside the building in attempt to paralyze transport to and from the facility. MTR Corp., operator of the city’s rail system, canceled express trains to the airport, while demonstrators blocked buses from leaving the airport terminal. Protesters vandalized turnstiles at some of stations and sprayed graffiti on them. Airport Authority Hong Kong obtained an injunction last month against people holding demonstrations there and a later one preventing them from blocking roads. Some train stations remained shuttered yesterday morning and subway services were interrupted, after riot police were called to a station because of a clash between protesters and other passengers. Police used batons and pepper spray on passengers.

Cyberattack targets key protester forum

Hong Kong appeared to be the target of a large digital attack in recent days, with a popular online forum used by protesters saying its servers were hit on Saturday. Digital Attack Map, which provides information on daily cyberattacks around the world, showed the financial hub at the center of distributed denial of service, or DDoS, attacks. LIHKG, a forum used by demonstrators to organize mass rallies in Hong Kong, said its servers were hit maliciously by a large DDoS attack in a way that had never seen before. While some of LIHKG’s services were interrupted, it was fully restored hours later, according to a post on Twitter. This is the second large cyber attack to hit apps used this summer by protesters to organize during unrest in Hong Kong. In June, messaging service Telegram said it had been hit by a powerful attack coming out of China. The protesters’ use of messaging apps and chat rooms has allowed them to quickly change and implement plans, frustrating government efforts to control them.

Students vow to carry on as classes begin

While Hong Kong’s government is hoping that the start of the new school year this week will limit students’ time to take to the streets, demonstrators have vowed to continue with the protests and to spread their message on campuses. Student groups are planning a range of civil actions including class boycotts and rallies in the first two weeks of September. While a few universities have banned professors from voicing opinions on the protests, some sympathetic teachers still plan on showing their support. One professor at a major university, who asked not to be named, said he plans to hold classes as normal but won’t penalize students who are absent because of the protests and will record lectures for them. Benson Wong, a 50-year-old part-time lecturer at the University of Hong Kong, said he won’t record attendance rates at his classes and will delay assessments to help the student protesters. “Punishing students for protesting is covering up the political problem without solving it,” Wong said. “If the political crisis cannot be resolved, why should we pretend to go back to normal?”