Hong Kong protesters face threat of bullets
As the violence escalated yesterday, police stormed a university campus where protesters were barricaded
Police in Hong Kong were threatening to use live ammunition as they fought with protesters into the early hours of this morning. Officers faced barrages of Molotov cocktails from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University campus, while one officer was shot in the leg with an arrow during the standoff. “If they [the protesters] continue such dangerous actions, we would have no choice but to use minimum force, including live rounds,” said Louis Lau, a police spokesman.
HONG KONG police and pro-democracy protesters were fighting into the early hours of this morning, with police threatening to use live ammunition in the face of barrages of Molotov cocktails from a university campus.
While three protesters have been shot during the 24 weeks of protests so far, this is the first time in the crisis the police have issued the stark warning.
“If they continue such dangerous actions, we would have no choice but to use minimum force, including live rounds,” said police spokesman Louis Lau during a Facebook live broadcast.
The warning came after a Hong Kong police officer was shot in the leg with an arrow fired by protesters during a day-long tear-gas and petrolbomb fuelled standoff between anti-government protesters and police.
Yesterday morning the police had surrounded the Hong Kong Polytechnic University to prevent protesters from escaping as they moved in.
Last night, police stormed the university campus after a prolonged standoff. Demonstrators responded with petrol bombs. There was no word of casualties.
Photographs of the injured officer were posted on the Hong Kong Police Facebook page, showing the arrow sticking out of his lower leg. The man was described as a media liaison officer, who often join police lines acting as a buffer for the press in the protests.
Yesterday afternoon, police deployed water cannon and armoured vehicles, which broke through blockades, and dispersed protesters with bursts of blue dye laced with pepper spray. Protesters retreated towards the campus, blocking projectiles and tear gas with umbrellas and makeshift shields. About 200 were thought to have barricaded themselves inside the university. Meanwhile, on the roof of the building, protesters fired arrows and catapults with flaming missiles.
Warning shots were reportedly fired by police, and tear gas was still being launched towards the university at 4am local time after an ultimatum for students to surrender expired, as tensions showed no sign of easing.
The university is near the Hung Hom Cross-harbour tunnel, a 10-lane thoroughfare between the Kowloon Peninsula and Hong Kong Island.
The crossing has been a key target for protesters, who have vandalised the toll booths, shutting down the crucial transport tunnel for more than five days. They also set fire to a footbridge overlooking the Cross-harbour Tunnel last night, causing a large explosion.
The university is stockpiled with Molotov cocktails and petrol bombs.
University campuses have been the latest battlegrounds of fierce clashes between protesters and police. The Polytechnic University is the last remaining campus in Hong Kong still held by protesters.
Speaking yesterday, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former foreign secretary, urged restraint from Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, and protesters.
“Hong Kong’s chief executive has the responsibility to do everything possible to prevent a massacre. She must order the police to exercise restraint and not to use live ammunition or other forms of lethal force,” he said.
“A bloodbath on a Hong Kong campus would be devastating for Hong Kong as a whole.”
‘Hong Kong’s chief executive has … to do everything possible to prevent a massacre… A bloodbath on a Hong Kong campus would be devastating’