Hong Kong protests: petrol bombs and dangerous chemicals found at City University a month after it was vandalised by radicals
- Police say they found 34 petrol bombs, 20 smoke bombs, and 12 corrosive bombs
- University was scene of clashes between protesters and police during citywide strike in November
More than 30 petrol bombs along with other dangerous items were found on the City University of Hong Kong campus on Friday night, a month after it was vandalised by anti-government protesters.
Police said they had found 34 petrol bombs, 20 smoke bombs, 12 corrosive bombs and a number of easily flammable items after receiving a call from university staff about suspected dangerous items on the Kowloon campus.
Universities, including CityU, are gradually reopening their campuses after shutting down during a week of intense clashes between radical protesters and police as part of a citywide strike in November.
CityU on Saturday said it had increased security at all entrances after being vandalised. It also said part of the library would reopen for use on Monday.
Hong Kong has been gripped by six months of protests triggered by a now-withdrawn extradition bill, which would have allowed fugitives to be sent to mainland China, but later spiralled into a wider anti-government movement.
The university also discovered “dangerous chemicals” on campus last Friday, which were disposed of by police’s explosive ordnance disposal bureau.
In a statement to the Post, police said the case was being dealt with by officers from Sham Shui Po Police Station.
During the violence in November, radicals vandalised CityU's main administrative building, destroyed the president’s office, and broke into laboratories.
Other places on the Kowloon Tong campus were damaged and set on fire on different days. Roadblocks were set up outside the university’s student residence as protesters heeded calls for citywide traffic disruptions. Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd while radicals hurled petrol bombs.
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Classes for the first semester ended two weeks early while final examinations were cancelled.
The university later reported dangerous chemicals missing from its labs, including toxic, corrosive and flammable substances such as concentrated nitric acid, and concentrated sulphuric acid. Chinese University and Polytechnic University also reported missing chemicals.
After the strike, 8,000 petrol bombs were found at Chinese University, which was the site of intense clashes on November 12, with protesters hurling petrol bombs, and police firing more than 1,000 rounds of tear gas into the campus.
At PolyU, where protesters barricaded themselves inside for almost two weeks, 3,800 petrol bombs were found after radicals left.
