keep in mind there s a new bridge that connects the mainland with hong kong, so theoretically a convoy of military vehicles could travel across from china to hong kong very quickly and move in. and these videos are a deliberate attempt, kate, to intimidate the protesters to let them know if beijing decides to intervene, which would be a very tough decision, but if they decide to do it, it will be a very firm, very swift, very decisive move on the part of mainland china. in some way i wintonder if youn people are pushing for that. i was wondering what the options are when you see what is happening here. neither side is backing down, it s only escalating at this point, will, what do you think? i don t see it dying down at this stage. i don t see how this ends without some sort of bigger force to move these people out, because what the police are doing just isn t working. you saw even police in riot gear had to pull back because they re
protesters, many of them telling me they didn t believe that would happen. they believed this was a protest that they could continue because we didn t believe the riot police would actually want to come into one of the busiest airports in the world. bearing in mind, there are still passengers here who were trying to get on flights that have been canceled because of these protests. there are a number of passengers milling around with their luggage, come looking confused, some annoyed that they can t get on flights. with the riot police here, i think some are quite concerned. joining me now on the phone just for viewers, you see paula on the right side of your screen. on the left side of your screen, that was moments ago when that was the chaos that was breaking out and we saw obviously some protesters get their eyes washed out, clearly indicating some kind of pepper spray was possibly used on the part of the riot police, which we saw riot police had in hand when we got a different p
helmets on, clearly with pepper spray canisters in their hands. it almost looks like i don t know if it was an airport official kind of standing outside, almost looking like trying to hold back the riot police. it s really an amazing split screen that we are looking at right now, what is happening where you are and the riot police on the outside, and then passengers kind of milling about the airport in the level below you. it s truly remarkable. reporter: i have to say, kate, this is one of the most surreal images i have seen. you look one way and you see the riot police holding onto pepper spray and you look the other way down below and there are families arriving in hong kong, coming home, coming for a holiday. it is simply surreal. this is to all stents and purposes down below on the ground floor a functioning
damage in their test of wills with the city authorities, and by extension the communist party rulers in beijing. let me also ask you kind of what has what we know, at least, since there s a lot of unknowns, what we know has transpired in the last few minutes since we ve been on air is we saw multiple large police buses pulling up to the airport. we saw police in riot gear outside. we saw some police walking in for it looked like a brief moment into the airport and now out. now paula is telling us that the police buses of at least left from that location. i don t know if entirely left the airport or what. that just seems really surprising that they would show this big present this big show of force and then turn around. what do you think? reporter: kate, i ve seen on multiple occasions now riot police move in, do a show of force, maybe fire tear gas and
mid-march there would be that plan prior to tax reform. we re getting close to seeing exactly what the president and congress s plan will be. is it so warm out there, hallie, thaw don t need a jacket? reporter: i took it off right before this hit. it s so nice. it s patio drinking weather. good news in d.c. fantastic. lucky dog. hallie jackson, thank you so much. let s go to msnbc chief legal koerngts ari melber and msnbc contributor charlie sykes who joins me on set. in washington news room we have democratic strategist steve mcmahon. charlie, let s start with you. there were cops in riot gear outside mitch mcconnell s luncheon today. so far the gathering of voters have been completely peaceful, but they re super angry. let s take a listen to some of what mitch mcconnell has been facing. the problem is obamacare is just l.a.x. veterans should have good health care.