Hong Kong: Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam warned Friday that two months of pro-democracy demonstrations were causing economic chaos in the city but ruled out making concessions to "silence the violent protesters." Sge abruptly announced a press meet after meeting business leaders as demonstrators rallied at the airport, with the protest movement entering its third month. Lam, whose support for a bill to allow extradition to mainland China sparked the crisis, warned that the economic impact of the unrest threatened to be worse than the 2003 SARS outbreak. "The downturn this time came very quickly. Someone described it as coming like a tsunami," Lam said.

"Compared to the economic downturn caused by SARS, which caused an economic storm, the situation this time is more severe." "In other words, the economic recovery will take a very long time," she added. While Lam is a figure of hatred for many pro-democracy activists, her comments echo worried statements from the private sector and the tourism industry in particular. Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific has warned bookings are down, travel agencies have reported drops of up to 50 per cent in group tour bookings and the tourism board reported double-digit declines in visitor arrivals in the second half of July.