University of Hong Kong governing council meeting gets under way amid security and secrecy
Monthly meeting moved from campus to Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai following siege of event last month by angry students
The monthly meeting of the University of Hong Kong’s governing council kicked off amid high security and secrecy on Tuesday, following the siege of a meeting last month by angry students protesting about governance issues.
The venue for Tuesday’s meeting was moved from the university campus in Pok Fu Lam to the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, and council members were kept in the dark about which room they would be heading to until they reached the centre.
University staff members took a head count of council members at the entrance to the centre’s old wing on Harbour Road, and then told them which room they should proceed to.
The old wing was closed to outsiders, and dozens of security guards and staff stood alert at and around the venue.
Many believed the secrecy was to avoid a repeat of the siege by students of an on-campus council meeting last month, where police and ambulances were called to the scene amid chaos created by student protests.
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The Post learned that the first thing the council would discuss at Tuesday’s meeting was safety issues at further meetings involving “an incumbent council member”, although the said member was not identified on the agenda.