HONG KONG—Hong Kong police laid siege to a university on Nov. 18, firing rubber bullets and tear gas to pin back pro-democracy protesters and stop them from fleeing amid fears of a bloody crackdown.
Dozens, choking on the tear gas, tried to leave the Polytechnic University by breaking through police lines after a night of mayhem in the Chinese-ruled city in which roads were blocked, and a bridge was set on fire.
Many protesters, dressed in regular clothes and without gas masks, made runs for it, dodging tear gas canisters and sponge grenades, only to be forced back inside.
Some were arrested, tackled to the ground, as others scrambled and tripped over barricades and fences as police pointed guns at them and threw punches.
“The police might not storm the campus but it seems like they are trying to catch people as they attempt to run,” Democratic lawmaker Hui Chi-fung told Reuters.
“It’s not optimistic now. They might all be arrested on campus. Lawmakers and school management are trying to liaise with the police but failed.”
Police said officers had been deployed “on the periphery” of the campus for a week, appealing to “rioters” to leave. “All our warnings were ignored,” they said in a statement.
Police arrested 154 people aged between 13 and 54 over the weekend.
Dan, a 19-year-old on the campus, burst into tears as he said the protesters had been trapped for too long.
Thirty-eight Hurt
One 24-year-old protester, who gave his name as “Be Patient,” said he nearly suffocated in the crush.“We couldn’t move at all. The police didn’t stop ... they still used rubber bullet and sponge rounds to attack us. We’re talking about a distance of one meter.”
There were also running battles in the nearby commercial area of Nathan Road where activists stopped traffic and forced shopping malls and stores to shut.
Thirty-eight people were wounded overnight on Sunday, the Hospital Authority said. Reuters witnesses saw some protesters suffering from burns from chemicals in jets fired from police water cannons.
Police said they fired three live rounds when “rioters” attacked two officers who were attempting to arrest a woman. No one was wounded and the woman escaped amid a dramatic escalation of the unrest that has plunged the Asian financial hub into chaos for almost six months.
Demonstrators are angry at what they see as Chinese meddling in Hong Kong’s promised freedoms when the then British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. They say they are responding to excessive use of force by police.
China’s foreign ministry said on Monday no one should underestimate its will to protect its sovereignty.
Chinese soldiers in a base close to the university were seen on Sunday monitoring developments at the university with binoculars, some dressed in riot gear.
Chinese troops have appeared on Hong Kong’s streets only once since 1997, to help clear up after a typhoon last year.
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