Viral video clips show extradition bill protesters swearing and jostling elderly man trying to leave Hong Kong airport

A video of a group of young people jostling and swearing at an elderly man at Hong Kong’s airport on Saturday has gone viral online.

The clip showed several youths, believed to be protesters against the city’s now-shelved extradition bill confronting the man who witnesses said had earlier pushed aside a poster held by a young woman protester.

In other videos, the man was seen wheeling his suitcase toward the bus terminal with a yellow note on his back reading: “Black police plus triads equals to no law”

Flight attendant Zoey Au, who witnessed the early part of the row, said the incident began inside the arrivals hall where the protesters were staging a sit-in.

“He rushed towards a girl holding a poster and slapped it,” Au said. “After that, he tried to flee. I remember him almost tripping.”

She said the man was chased by a group of protesters and airport staff tried to break up the confrontation.

In the first video, the protesters shouted at the man and tried to stop him from leaving, with one demonstrator falling to the ground to block his path and others jostling and cornering him against a wall.

“Don’t leave, call police,” protesters shouted in the video as they grabbed the man’s suit from behind.

Another youth eventually intervened and embraced the man in an apparent attempt to calm him and stop the confrontation.

The incident occurred as tens of thousands of protesters staged a sit-in at one of the airport’s arrival halls in a bid to win international support for a month-long campaign against the bill.

They were also demanding the government set up an independent commission to investigate what protesters said was excessive use of force by police during previous clashes.

The demonstration included many protesters becoming human “Lennon Walls”, a reference to displays of colourful Post-it notes bearing messages of support that have sprung up across Hong Kong in recent weeks.

Police said they did not have a record of the incident at the airport as of Saturday morning.