Washington Post: Weekend protests turn into Monday General Strike in Hong Kong

Workers across Hong Kong heeded the call of this past weekend's protests and stayed home from work Monday, grinding much of the semi-autonomous island to a halt, the Washington Post reports.

The protests are a continuation of an increasingly volatile political situation in Hong Kong following the introduction of a bill allowing for extradition of fugitives who fled to Hong Kong back to mainland China, a move many in Hong Kong view as a fundamental violation of the "one nation, two systems" policy implemented when Britain returned its former protectorate to China in 1997.

While Monday's strike was not the first General Strike called during the weeks of protests, it appears to be the first purely worker driven action as many of the earlier stoppages, before the legislation was shelved, were either called or supported by Hong Kong's business community with many companies voluntarily shutting their doors.

The work stoppage saw hundreds of flights at Hong Kong's busy airport cancelled or delayed when pilots and flight crews failed to show up to work and  public transportation in the busy financial district was also suspended or delayed as bus drivers stayed home.

The strike came after a weekend of protestors expanding on their guerilla style demonstrations as they would pop up to cause a disruption and then disperse before police, who have come under scrutiny due to their handling of both the protests and allowances towards violent counter protesters, arrived at the scene. The strike seemed to be called for by black clad protestors chanting "Monday! Strike!" while moving to occupy a traffic tunnel leading to the city's financial district.