A few hundred protesters remain trapped inside a university in Hong Kong as a siege continues, raising fears of a bloody crackdown to end the standoff.
Battles between police and protesters in recent days have featured raging fires, tear gas, and flaming vehicles.
Demonstrators barricaded inside university campuses have armed themselves with petrol bombs, bricks, and even bows and arrows dipped in fire, while police have deployed tear gas, live bullets and water cannon.
Some of the worst clashes have been at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the last campus that remains a protester stronghold with as many as 200 people still walled off inside, city authorities said.
Ng Han Guan/AP
Officers have urged protesters to surrender peacefully, arresting about 400 people leaving the university, sometimes tackling them to the ground or pounding them with batons.
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Another 200, all minors, have had their information recorded by officers though were not immediately taken into custody after school principals secured a promise for them to return home safely.
In total police arrested around 1100 people on Monday for offences including taking part in a riot and possession of offensive weapons, the largest number of arrests in a single day since the protests began.
Twenty injured rioters were taken to hospital by Red Cross and first aid volunteers.
Some demonstrators escaped late on Monday by climbing over walls, abseiling down ropes and hopping on motorcycles – prepared by volunteers working to get people out.
Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam said on Tuesday she was “very worried,” in a weekly press conference. “I want to go to the scene, but my appearance would only make the situation heat up.”
As the standoff continued, China’s top legislature said Hong Kong judges had no right to rule on the constitutionality of legislation, after the city’s highest court decided a ban against wearing face masks during public demonstrations went against the city’s Basic Law.
The anti-mask law was enacted under an emergency regulations ordinance that gives Hong Kong authorities sweeping powers, and was aimed at making it easier to identify protesters, who have covered their faces to prevent arrest and defend against tear gas.
The move is likely to further incense demonstrators who first took to the streets against an extradition proposal and have stayed for nearly six months to oppose eroding freedoms under Chinese Communist rule – demonstrated by Beijing weighing in on the mask ban.
Protests have taken an anti-government bent, with demonstrators targeting the local and central authorities, as well as the police, whom they’ve met day after day on the frontlines.
Hong Kong campus siege
The chaos has again made Hong Kong look more like a war zone than a glittering financial hub – the unrest has pushed the city’s economy into a recession.
Chinese authorities now face a conundrum – how exactly to restore order without appearing to climb down and concede to protesters’ demands, which include an independent inquiry into police abuse and the right to democratically nominate and elect their own leaders even if they oppose the Party.
Until now, Beijing has relied on the Hong Kong police to handle the situation. But many experts, and senior police commanders, have told the Telegraph that it is unfair and inappropriate to thrust law enforcement to the frontlines to resolve a political crisis.
Chris Tang, Hong Kong’s new police commissioner, who took up his post on Tuesday as planned, vowed officers would continue to enforce the law, condemning the “massive scale” of illegal activity in the city.
Universities have cancelled classes for the rest of the semester, with schools shut for a sixth day on Tuesday. Major tunnels and other roads remained blocked, and a number of major events including a major music festival have been cancelled or postponed.
ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP
Officials have also warned they may have to delay local district council elections scheduled for this weekend if the violence continues.
Concerns are growing that Beijing may directly intervene, possibly calling on military reinforcements. Chinese state media have issued harshly-worded rebukes, condemning protesters and saying there was no room for compromise. The editor of the Global Times newspaper, a Communist Party mouthpiece, even encouraged police to use shoot live bullets.
“Is the world going to witness bloody crackdown w/o stopping ruthless regime?” tweeted Joshua Wong, a Hong Kong activist who led the 2014 Umbrella Movement.
TIME IS RUNNING OUT. #SOSHK Listen to urgent cry of protestors in #PolyU! Running out of food & medical supply, starving & injured protestors counting down to confront #hkpolice bullets with bare hands. Is the world going to witness bloody crackdown w/o stopping ruthless regime? pic.twitter.com/szkxxICLDF
— Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 😷 (@joshuawongcf) November 18, 2019
Parents of some of the students trapped inside the university held a vigil. Wearing shades and eye masks to conceal their identity, they said their children dare not surrender because the government has labelled them as rioters even though some were merely trapped by the police siege.
"Don’t condemn them as rioters, just encourage them to come peacefully and safely, that’s all the parents want," one parent said.
"They don’t trust the police or the government. That’s why I encourage the government and police to redeem our trust, not just to us but the youth of Hong Kong."
A police spokesman said: "The police have been searching for a peaceful resolution. Using force has always been a last resort."