So said he was covering the protests for the school’s publication that night, and he used the knife for cutting mooncakes to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival last week. He was released on a HK$500 (US$64) bail on Monday evening.

Hundreds of Baptist University students marched on the campus on Monday afternoon, following which dozens of them vandalised the building that holds varsity president Roland Chin Tai-hong’s office.

They smashed glass panels to break through emergency doors, sprayed a surveillance camera with black paint to obscure recording, and surrounded Chin’s office for four hours. They also booed and heckled several vice-presidents and professors of the HKBU School of Communication who tried to pacify them.

The students were angry at the decision of Chin and other officials of the communication school, including head of journalism department Lau Chi-kuen, who have refused to condemn Hong Kong police over So’s arrest.

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“President Chin lacks a backbone and fails to live up to the dignity of a university head,” the students’ union of Baptist University wrote in a statement posted on its Facebook page late on Monday night.

The statement further mentioned the union would stage another protest on Wednesday surrounding the building of Chin’s office, if he failed to apologise to students and respond to their four demands, including providing all-round support to those arrested and condemning police.

Separately, in an online petition also posted on Facebook late on Monday night, a group of alumni of the communication school said Lau should step down for his “indifference” to the arrest.

The former students mentioned in the petition that Lau had earlier refused to sign a petition condemning police for the “unreasonable arrest and obstruction of press freedom”.

Ken Chan, the communication school students’ union president, claimed the petition was signed by 457 persons by Tuesday evening.

On Monday morning, Chin issued a statement over the arrest, saying the university was “deeply concerned” and that he had “urged” police to handle the case fairly and squarely. But, the students’ union perceived Chin’s wording as too soft and not supportive enough for So.

Chin was not on the campus on Monday. When the protesting students confronted Lau after the march, he said he would “choose whatever wording that would help” So. Lau also said he was disappointed by the “very unreasonable arrest,” and urged police to release So soon.

The journalism department said in a statement on Monday that teachers as well as two lawyers were providing help to So and his family. It urged police to release him as soon as possible and to respect the lawful right of student reporters to report.

Lau declined to comment further on the matter on Tuesday. The university could not be reached immediately for a comment either.

Meanwhile, five masked students of Maryknoll Convent School knelt down outside its gate in a spontaneous show of protest during lunchtime on Tuesday. They were flanked by ten more students holding placards carrying anti-government messages. They also sang Glory to Hong Kong, which has become the latest protest anthem.

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They appealed to their alumna, Helen Yu Lai Ching-ping, who has been appointed to the Independent Police Complaints Council, to seriously investigate police’s alleged use of excessive force on the anti-government protesters.

Form Four student and president of the school’s anti-extradition bill concern group Janice Lam said: “We don’t have much faith in Lam’s reconciliation actions anyway, since they fall far short of the five demands of the protesters. But we still hope Mrs Yu, the old girl of the school, will stay true to the institution’s teachings and use her power in the council to reveal the truth on the police conduct during the protests.”