Travelers weave their way through protesters in Terminal 1 of Hong Kong International Airport on Monday. — China Daily/ANN Photo

HONG KONG — Hong Kong airport re-opened on Tuesday after a rally by thousands of protesters triggered an unprecedented shutdown, but hundreds of flights were still listed as cancelled, according to AFP.

The abrupt closure marked a new low in a 10-week crisis that has seen millions of people take to Hong Kong's streets.

Early Tuesday, passengers with luggage were being checked in at the departures hall and information boards showed several flights were boarding or about to depart.

But the woes at the airport remained far from over, with a massive backlog of flights to clear and activists calling for another protest there on Tuesday afternoon.

Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong's flagship airline, listed more than 200 flights as still being cancelled on Tuesday morning.

It an advisory posted on its website at 6.00am (2200 GMT Monday), Cathay said passengers urged customers to postpone non-essential travel from Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong police said on Monday that they have arrested 149 people during the series of violent protests over the past few days, China Daily has reported.  

The 149 people, arrested between August 9 and August 12, comprise 111 male and 38 female, aged between 15 to 53. They were suspected of crimes including unlawful assembly, assault on policemen, obstruction of police in the execution of duty, possession of offensive weapons and dangerous objects.

On Monday, in Beijing, Yang Guang, a spokesman for the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, said radical protesters have repeatedly attacked police officers in the past few days and have committed serious violent crimes. Such violence has begun to show the "first signs of terrorism", Yang said. — AFP/China Daily