HK protesters pinned back on campus
High Court overturns face mask ban
HONG KONG (Reuters) — Hong Kong police fired rubber bullets and tear gas yesterday to pin back frantic anti-government protesters fleeing a university where hundreds were holed up with petrol bombs and other homemade weapons amid fears of a bloody crackdown.
Dozens, choking on the tear gas, tried to escape again and again from the Polytechnic University after a night of mayhem in the Chineseruled city in which roads were blocked, a bridge was set on fire and a police officer was shot by a bow and arrow.
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. Some were pulled back into campus by other protesters.
“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 were putting up barricades of their own to keep the protesters in one place.
Earlier, police urged the protesters to “drop their weapons” and leave.
“We’ve been trapped here for too long. We need all Hong Kongers to know we need help,” said Dan, a 19-year-old protester on the campus, as he burst into tears.
“I don’t know how much longer we can go on like this. We may need international help.”
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 city’s 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.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong government involved a colonial-era emergency law in October banning faced masks commonly used by protesters. The High Court ruled on Monday the ban was “incompatible with the Basic Law.”
The city’s Cross-Harbour Tunnel, next to the Polytechnic university, linking Hong Kong island to the Kowloon peninsula, remained closed after protesters torched a bridge above the toll booths on Sunday.