Hong Kong protests: pitched battles on campuses as police say city verging on ‘brink of total breakdown’
- Demonstrators orchestrate another full day of citywide chaos intended to bring local government to its knees
- Officers draw guns while, at various locations including business district, protesters hurl bricks and petrol bombs amid tear gas and rubber bullets
Protesters engaged in fiery battles with police outside university campuses and blocked roads at multiple locations including in the city’s financial heart on Tuesday, for a second straight day of mayhem meant to bring the Hong Kong government to its knees.
At Chinese University, the site of the most violent clashes with scores of petrol bombs lobbed and tear gas deployed, water cannons showed up at 10pm spraying blue dye at protesters. Earlier, a truce was proposed after senior university officials intervened, but the pitched fighting continued after a brief interlude.
University president Rocky Tuan Sung-chi visited the scarred battlefield – littered with bricks and burnt barricades – in the evening to mediate between police and protesters. He ended up being hit by tear gas as his entourage was leaving for a police station to meet students who had been arrested earlier.
Former university chief Joseph Sung Jao-yiu also showed up later in the evening, to address students and protesters and plead with them to disengage. “Tonight I hope everyone can leave peacefully. I hope there won’t be any more tear gas or confrontation,” he said, before departing.
Most of the protesters were unmoved, still guarding their positions. By midnight, police had retreated from their earlier front lines.
Police said in a statement that a water cannon was deployed at the campus because protesters threw projectiles at officers while they retreated from the campus under a “consensus” reached with university management to defuse the situation.