Hong Kong universities start new term still scarred by protest havoc, leaving some students mulling city exit
- Security strengthened at Polytechnic, City and Baptist universities for return to studies, but some facilities still being repaired
- Campuses became battlegrounds between riot police and hard-core demonstrators in November, in some of worst violence since protests erupted last June
Three universities in Hong Kong devastated by anti-government protests started the new term on Monday with tightened security and damage still visible, leaving some students considering studying elsewhere.
Campuses emerged as a new front in escalating violence between hard-core protesters and riot police in November, with universities including Polytechnic, City and Baptist blighted by tear gas and petrol bombs.
Security officers stood guard and turnstiles were in operation on Monday at Hung Hom’s PolyU, which underwent more than a month of restoration work after a stand-off between police and radicals over nearly two weeks.
PolyU said on Monday that most of the damage had been fixed, but parts of the campus including the swimming pool, some footbridges, and a section of the jogging track, which sits in the public area of the grounds, were still being repaired.
The university, which started to reopen from mid-December following the previous month’s chaos, added that carpets and ceilings in all affected buildings were either being replaced or had been sterilised.
Its food court, which suffered sanitation issues after protesters used the area as a canteen during the siege, reopened on Monday morning after it was repeatedly sterilised and subjected to bacterial level tests.