Passengers, police wrangle in Yunnan airport

A conflict between air passengers frustrated by flight delays and airport police reached a climax on Sunday when police reportedly used pepper spray to contain a group of angry passengers who tried to break through a boarding gate at an airport in Yunnan province.

A small number of passengers became angry and blocked some boarding gates after their Lucky Air flight, which was scheduled to fly to Nanjing, Jiangsu province, from Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, was delayed due to bad weather.

Their action resulted in the delay of some other flights and forced airport workers to call the police.

Police officers then rushed to the scene and to prevent the angry passengers from breaking through the boarding gate and get on the runway, used pepper spray to disperse them, according to witnesses and an airport publicity officer who declined to give his name.

No one was injured during the incident, a publicity manager with the airline who only gave her name as Liang told China Daily on Monday, adding that all the passengers had later accepted the airline's proposal and departed from Kunming on Monday afternoon.

The incident led to the delay of several other flights.