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Aug. 5 (UPI) -- As a citywide general strike gripped Hong Kong on Monday, its leader Carrie Lam said the island was on the brink of a "very dangerous situation." On Monday, some 500,000 Hong Kong residents in 20 business sectors went on strike, including air-traffic controllers who called in sick, resulting in some 230 flights being canceled.
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Police arrested 82 people. What was supposed to start as a a peaceful protest with sit-ins and general disruption quickly devolved into more clashes with police. Riot officers used tear gas and sponge grenades to subdue the protesters.
Protesters at the police station were angry about how police handled a woman who was arrested the day before. Police fired multiple rounds of tear gas at the demonstrators there. In the Wong Tai Sin district, protesters threw umbrellas at the officers, who retaliated with pepper spray and more tear gas.
On and below ground, rail and metro lines were brought to a standstill as protesters blocked train doors from closing, resulting in at least nine lines being suspended, according to the MTR.
Protesters swarmed Hong Kong's roads, shutting them down for several hours.
Lam, flanked by the island's finance, commerce, security, health and civil service chiefs, told reporters that ongoing protests are a threat to the island's stability and the future of its "one country, two systems" model it operates under.
"Such extensive disruptions in the name of certain demands of an uncooperative movement have seriously undermined Hong Kong's law and order and are pushing our city, the city we all love and many of us helped to build, to the verge of a very dangerous situation," the island's chief executive said.
The general strike follows over two months of mass protests that have rocked the island in demand that its government repeal a controversial extradition ordinance that would see some fugitives of Beijing law sent to the mainland to face Chinese courts.
Though the law has been shelved, protests have continued, demanding for the extradition amendment to be officially repealed, for an independent investigation into police conduct during the protests and for Lam to resign.
Lam, however, said the government has complied with their demand concerning the law as she had declared it "dead" and now protesters were using it to hide their "ulterior motives."
"We continue to allow these violent protesters to make use of the fugitive offenders bill and these demands to conceal their ulterior motives that is going to push Hong Kong to the verge of a very dangerous situation," she said, adding "those ulterior motives are going to destroy Hong Kong, to risk 'one country, two systems' and also to proceed with what they call revolution."
She also said she would not resign, despite the protester's demands.
"It is a time for me to lead my team to address those problems and to bring Hong Kong out of its current difficult situation," she said.
Lam's remarks came after another weekend of unrest, as protesters again clashed with police who fired tear gas in an attempt to disperse the crowds of demonstrators resulting in 44 arrests.
Police said protesters committed "a lot of radical and violent acts," including arson, while throwing bricks at police stations after a procession in Tseung Kwan O splintered into different directions.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, has functioned under a "one country, two systems" model of governance since it was placed under Chinese sovereignty in 1997. This system affords Hong Kong freedoms the mainland China does not have and the extradition bill was seen by activists as a whittling away of the island's independence.
