Hong Kong leader says economy taking a hit from protests

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam speaks during a press conference in Hong Kong, Tuesday, October 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu

HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s embattled leader Carrie Lam said the city’s economy is being battered by months of increasingly violent protests.

Lam, the Beijing-backed chief executive of the semi-autonomous region, told reporters Tuesday that tourism arrivals were down by half. She said economic data for the last quarter were also likely to be “very bad.”

The city’s airport has been periodically besieged by protesters, and some train and subway lines and shopping malls have suffered significant disruptions from the demonstrations.

Protesters are demanding Lam’s resignation even after she withdrew legislation that provoked the latest rounds of turmoil.

Many thousands have joined the protests in the former British colony to voice concern over threats to special freedoms promised to Hong Kong’s residents when their city was handed to communist-ruled China in 1997. /kga