The situation in Hong Kong over the weekend worsened significantly. The violence intensified, the Hong Kong Police appear to have been unleashed, the airport shut down Monday afternoon due to protests and Beijing and its propaganda organs are signaling a tougher line.

In perhaps the most chilling developments that look to be pointing to an increasing possibility of intervention from Beijing:

• The Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office held another press conference and for the first time likened the protests to terrorism;

• An official of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region said (Xinhua) that “Hong Kong will slide into a bottomless abyss if the terror atrocities are allowed to continue”;

• Official media are also using “terror” to describe the situation and promoted a video showing People’s Armed Police moving into Shenzhen: