Taiwan schoolgirl at Hong Kong Polytechnic campus was ‘too scared to leave’
- Form Five student left on Tuesday morning with group of school principals and has been taken to a police station
- Parents say the girl was not taking part in protests
A Taiwanese girl trapped inside Hong Kong’s Polytechnic University during a violent stand-off between radical protesters and police left the campus safely early on Tuesday morning and was taken to a police station.
The Form Five student, surnamed Tai, was at the Kwai Chung police station, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon. A lawyer had confirmed she was the station at noon and her mother had been able to travel there at around 1pm to help with her case, the statement said.
The girl is understood to have been inside the campus since Sunday afternoon and had been scared to leave when police earlier warned that those at Polytechnic University could face charges of rioting, which carry a jail sentence of up to 10 years.
“Our representative office continued to obtain relevant information from the student’s mother and actively provided assistance while remaining in constant contact with Tai’s mother,” the MAC said. “We again remind our citizens in Hong Kong to be alert to their safety and stay far away from protest conflict areas.”
The MAC said earlier that Taiwan’s representative office in Hong Kong, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO), had been in touch with the girl until she lost her mobile phone on Monday, but had spoken with her mother several times and determined that she was safe.