Traffic was in chaos on Thursday morning as roads around Tseung Kwan O, East Kowloon and Wanchai were closed off to make way for Zhang Dejiang’s movements on his final day in Hong Kong, as he visited Tseung Kwan O and Kowloon East. Zhang is the No. 3 official in China.
Zhang was staying at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Wanchai. Several roads were closed in the area for the duration of his stay, from Tuesday to Thursday.
According to David Gor, of Facebook’s Hong Kong Breaking Incident group, the congestion at the Western Harbour Tunnel extended past Kowloon station on Thursday morning.
#hongkong police Ridiculous traffic control pic.twitter.com/J0W1svOEna
— Iain Morris (@iainmorris) May 19, 2016
At intersections, police redirected traffic to allow Zhang to pass through first.
By 9:30am, as Zhang headed to Tseung Kwan O, the cross-harbour tunnel as well as roads on Hong Kong island were mired in heavy traffic.
Protesters displayed signs to express their anger over the traffic arrangements and pro-democracy party Demosistō attempted to get into the road in front of Zhang’s motorcade as it exited the Eastern tunnel. They were blocked and arrested by the police.
#hongkong police aren’t too bothered if you have places to be. pic.twitter.com/OEBPULiZ1i
— Iain Morris (@iainmorris) May 19, 2016
Zhang’s motorcade was also seen driving on the opposite side of the road from normal at the science park yesterday and in Tseung Kwan O today.
