Hong Kong protests: bitter stand-off inside Polytechnic University continues with as many as 100 activists still on campus, determined to evade capture
- City’s leader Carrie Lam pleads for peaceful end to impasse and asks police to handle the injured and underage in humane manner
- Final group of volunteer first aid workers leave university late on Tuesday night, while a few protesters make a break for it by climbing fence
No resolution to the bitter stand-off at Hong Kong Polytechnic University appeared to be in sight on Tuesday night as 60 to 100 protesters remained on campus, determined to resist capture and not join the 1,000 who had so far either surrendered or been arrested.
The city’s leader, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, said on Tuesday that she hoped the impasse, entering its fourth day by Wednesday, could be resolved peacefully, with those injured and aged under 18 handled in a humane manner.
She pledged that the minors would not be arrested but would only have their names recorded for the time being.
Since Sunday evening, police have surrounded the campus following a day of extremely violent clashes which the force declared to be a riot.
On Monday, hard core radicals went on a rampage all over Kowloon, wreaking havoc by blocking roads and setting off petrol bombs in a bid to distract the police and thin out their ranks at the campus.
Stretches of Nathan Road were damaged by bricks, barricades and fires, with Tsim Sha Tsui, Jordan, Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok witnessing some of the night’s most chaotic scenes that continued well into the early hours of Tuesday.