Hundreds of Hong Kong radical activists blocked some routes to the city’s airport yesterday as the gateway is again targeted, as the financial hub began cleaning up after another night of violent protests marked by fires, tear gas and police beatings.

Operators of the Airport Express train said it suspended services on Sunday afternoon, while black-clad protesters, hiding from CCTV cameras under umbrellas, built barricades at the airport bus station and attempted to stop traffic on the main road leading to terminals.

Outside one terminal at the international hub, protesters set off fire extinguishers, piled luggage trolleys into makeshift road barricades and smashed surveillance cameras.

State news agency Xinhua said the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government has severely condemned the illegal and violent acts of the radical protesters.

Violence continued to escalate with no regard for the safety of the public, Xinhua noted.

Citing a notice of objection by the police, a spokesman of the HKSAR government said in a statement that unauthorized assembly and procession in various districts on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon extensively blocked thoroughfares and paralyzed traffic on Hong Kong Island, seriously affecting emergency services and people’s daily living.

Deteriorating state Hostile Blackshirt protesters have caused unprecedented anarchy in Hong Kong. AFP

The radical protesters confronted police in various areas, hurled numerous petrol bombs at the government buildings, the Legislative Council building and the Police Headquarters as well as in other places, and attacked police officers with corrosive liquid and bricks, said the statement.

The radical protesters set fires in different places, vandalized public property, set up barricades and damaged facilities at MTR stations, such as platform screen doors, said the statement, adding that the fire at Hennessy Road was very fierce at one point, posing serious danger.

The behavior of the radical protesters gravely breached public peace and posed a serious threat to the safety of police officers on duty and members of the public at the scene, it said.

Stressing that the police will strictly follow up on all the illegal and violent acts, the statement said the HKSAR government appealed once again to members of the public to say no to violence together, so that order can be restored in society as soon as possible.

Hong Kong police said they were poised to launch a “dispersal operation,” and in a Facebook post warned protesters to leave the airport area “immediately.”

Flights had so far not been disrupted, but some passengers were left bewildered by the chaotic scenes.

“I want to go into the airport to find my sister, but I couldn’t get in,” Indonesian domestic helper Samirah told AFP.

The airport is covered by an injunction banning protesters from entering, imposed after a shutdown in August which ended in ugly clashes.

But protesters have routinely ignored legal moves to ban their actions since the anti-government movement sprang to life three months ago.

The protests were sparked by an attempt to pass a now-shelved extradition bill, but have expanded into a wider pro-democracy push.

On Sunday, city sanitation workers were seen clearing debris and removing graffiti after a night of pitched battles between protesters and police.

Hours earlier, a huge fire burned in the city’s commercial district as chaos ripped through the center of a city usually renowned for its stability and prosperity.

“I’m really, really tired. I think many Hong Kong people had a sleepless night yesterday,” said 18-year-old student protester called May.

“I almost couldn’t manage to get up, but I’m determined to go today.”

Hardcore demonstrators Saturday hurled petrol bombs at government buildings and police, who responded with tear gas and water cannon laced with chemical dye before making mass arrests inside the city’s underground metro stations.

Video footage captured by local media showed elite police charge a crowd cowering inside a train carriage, with one man, drenched in pepper spray, crying in anguish on his knees as he tried to protect his female friend.