Four hundred demonstrators who tried to leave the university were arrested and another 200 demonstrators, aged under 18, were also taken by riot squad police.
Hong Kong’s embattled leader Carrie Lam has called for a peaceful resolution as about 100 demonstrators remain holed up in Hong Kong Polytechnic University after 48 hours of sporadic battles.
Four hundred demonstrators who tried to leave the university were arrested and another 200 demonstrators, aged under 18, were also taken by riot squad police.
A van driven by the #HongKong police plow into a group of protesters causing a stampede. Many injured. When first aid & firemen try to assist they were stopped by police. Some even arrested. How can we trust them to treat the children trapped in #PolyU humanely if they surrender? pic.twitter.com/akqCYcsTnB
— Little_Greys (@TVAddict1013) 18 November 2019
Running battles between police, who surrounded the university building, and protesters featured raging fires, tear gas and vehicles petrol bombed. By the evening tens of thousands of demonstrators marched towards the university to aid those stuck in the campus, leading to more clashes with the police throughout the night, AP News reported.
Some managed to leave from the university in Kowloon by climbing over walls to be picked up by friends, while police tackled others trying to leave to the ground or pounding them with batons.
Battlefield in Jordan, #HongKong. Protesters are trying to reach their PolyU mates who are trapped in the university since yesterday. pic.twitter.com/9WnoPCJu1z
— ShanShan Kao (@shanmushy) 18 November 2019
Frontliners REPELLING to escape police siege of #PolyUHK in #HongKong. The ingenuity and continuous creativity of the anti surveillance protesters is awe inspiring. pic.twitter.com/VhUD84ozMs
— Vitalist International (@VitalistInt) 18 November 2019
Lam, who has appeared unfit to govern during the crisis, said she had instructed police to try and resolve the situation peacefully and to not “immediately” arrest minors under the age of 18 who remain there.
“We will use whatever means to continue to persuade and arrange for these remaining protesters to leave the campus as soon as possible so that this whole operation could end in a peaceful manner,” she said after unveiling a new police chief Chris Tang.
She added a peaceful resolution “can only be achieved with the full cooperation of the protesters, including, of course, the rioters. They have to stop violence, give up their weapons, and come out peacefully and take the instructions from police”.
About 10am on Tuesday (local time) about 50 demonstrators, with some suffering from hypothermia and leg injuries, were treated by paramedics before being taken to five city hospitals after local politicians and education officials reached a deal with police allowing them to leave. Another group of 50 were treated inside the campus in the Lee Shau Kei Building, and would be sent to hospital when ambulances could be arranged to take them, South China Morning Post reported.
The shocking battles between the demonstrators and police have cast a huge doubt over the District Council elections scheduled to take place on Sunday.
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Patrick Nip told Hong Kong Free Press the elections would be delayed unless the “violence and all kinds of duress” must stop immediately, the obstruction of tunnels, highways and roads must cease, and he called for an end to the destruction of transport facilities and traffic paralysis.
Now in its fifth month, the Hong Kong protest movement has steadily intensified as the local Hong Kong and the ruling China authorities harden their positions and refuse to make concessions.
China took control of the former British colony in 1997 promising to let it retain its autonomy. Demonstrations seeking greater democracy have become increasingly violent in recent weeks, with protesters vandalising transportation networks and China-friendly businesses as they push for demands including an independent probe into police violence and the ability to nominate and elect city leaders.