NICOSIA, Aug. 15 -- The blatant violence by radical protesters in Hong Kong International Airport is reminiscent of terrorist acts, said Kostas Gouliamos, the rector of the European University Cyprus, on Wednesday.

Gouliamos told Xinhua he tended to agree with the assessment by the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of China's State Council that the mobsters at the airport committed almost a terrorist act when they inflicted serious bodily harm on innocent citizens.

The violence in Hong Kong peaked overnight Tuesday, when a group of protesters in the airport illegally detained a mainland reporter and a mainland traveler for hours, unleashing mob-style assaults on them. It was the latest episode during the weeks of escalating violence and chaos in the Chinese port city.

Gouliamos, who was also the vice president of the Nicosia-based think-tank Promitheas, said that one cannot help but think that the perpetrators are led by external forces who would not like to see the success of the model adopted in Hong Kong since its return to China in 1997.

Some people outside Hong Kong do not like to see the city prosper or maintain its status as an economic hub safeguarded by the fundamental principle of "one country, two systems," Gouliamos said.

The ferocious violence and its continuation in the name of pursuing freedom and justice indicated that these people want the unrest to continue, he said.