(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong police arrested 16 people in another night of running battles between officers and demonstrators who staged wildcat protests after a standoff over an unauthorized rally in the New Territories.

Protesters retreated from a rally in the northern district of Tai Po after police warned they would use force to disperse the crowd. The demonstrators scattered and re-formed into smaller groups in different areas of the city. Police said people were arrested for unlawful assembly, possession of an offensive weapon, assaulting a police officer and obstructing a police officer in the execution of duties.

“Some violent protesters hurled miscellaneous objects and stones at police officers,” the police said in a statement. Others “set fire to miscellaneous objects outside the Tsim Sha Tsui Police Station and near Suffolk Road in Kowloon Tong, showing disregard for the safety of others and seriously affecting the services of police stations.”

Officers fired tear gas at protesters in the Tai Wai neighborhood after they refused to disperse, while other activists briefly blocked a major road tunnel across Victoria Harbour. Police condemned the violent behavior and said they would strictly enforce the law.

On the opposite side of the city, thousands of demonstrators occupied the arrivals hall of the Hong Kong airport for a second day, greeting passengers with “Free Hong Kong” chants. Only departing passengers with tickets or boarding passes and valid travel documents were being allowed to enter the check-in area at Terminal 1 until Sunday night, the last of the three-day demonstration there. Security personnel have been deployed.

Saturday’s demonstrations were part of a flurry of planned weekend protests across the city -- most of which have been denied permission by authorities. They also followed an order by China’s civil aviation authority to Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Hong Kong’s main airline, to ban all employees who supported or joined the recent protests from flying to the mainland, one of the strongest signs yet that Beijing is losing its patience with the demonstrations. The sit-in also affects one of the world’s busiest airports.

Cathay suspended a pilot from flying who had been detained while participating in a protest, the airline said in a statement. It also fired two workers for “misconduct.” They allegedly leaked information about the travel arrangements of a Hong Kong police soccer team, the South China Morning Post reported.

“As always our actions and responsibilities are focused on the safety and security of our operations,” the airline said.

The Hong Kong Cabin Crew Federation said in a statement it deeply regrets the decisions made by China’s civil aviation authority, adding that the authority should respect the Hong Kong citizens’ rights. Cathay Pacific’s Chief Executive Officer Rupert Hogg told staff in a memo that the airline would comply with the Chinese aviation authority’s directive, the South China Morning Post reported.

This weekend’s protests come days after a general strike that disrupted the financial hub’s morning rush hour, leaving traffic jammed, subway lines suspended and dozens of flights canceled. Those demonstrations, which also ended in tear gas and dispersal operations, prompted local leader Carrie Lam to warn of a “very dangerous situation” as her China-backed government struggles to quell an unpredictable and increasingly widespread movement.

Read an explainer on Hong Kong’s protest movement

Hong Kong police denied requests for rallies in Tai Po and Wong Tai Sin on Saturday, and in Sham Shui Po and the Eastern District on Sunday. Only protests in the city’s Victoria Park were granted, according to the Hong Kong Economic Times.

In Sham Shui Po, on the west side of Hong Kong island, a lot of the stores were shuttered on Sunday, some with notes plastered on them saying “Do not hit,” Radio Television Hong Kong reported on its website. Garbage bins in the area were tied to railings and water barriers surrounded the police station, the target of protesters last Tuesday, according to RTHK.

The broadcaster cited Zhang Ming, China’s ambassador to the European Union, as warning that the protests could not continue as they have done.

Hong Kong is part of China and “the Chinese people would not allow the situation to get out of control,” he said, according to RTHK. People are “violating the basic law, they are playing [with] fire.”

Protests sparked in June by a bill easing extraditions to the mainland have widened to include demands for Lam’s resignation. They are having an increasing impact on the economy and daily life in one of the world’s most densely crowded cities, raising concerns that Beijing will send in its army to restore order.

(Updates with RTHK report from the 12th paragraph.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Venus Feng in Hong Kong at vfeng7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Linus Chua at lchua@bloomberg.net, Stanley James, Shikhar Balwani

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