The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Police move in on protesters
Hong Kong: Surge in violent unrest
Police launched a late-night operation to try to flush about 200 protesters out of a university campus in Hong Kong.
It came after a day of clashes in which an officer was hit in the leg with an arrow and massive barrages of tear gas and water cannons were fired.
Riot police moved in on a protesters outside the campus after an ultimatum for people to leave area.
They used tear gas and water cannons on people wearing raincoats and carrying umbrellas.
Protesters used bows and arrows earlier and one arrow struck a media liaison officer in the calf.
As riot police moved in from all sides, some protesters retreated inside Hong Kong Polytechnic University while others set fires on bridges leading to it.
A huge blaze burned on much of a footbridge that connects a train station to the campus over the approach to the Cross Harbour Tunnel, a major road under Hong Kong’s port that has been blocked by the protesters for days.
The use of bows and arrows, along with petrol bombs launched with catapults, threatened to escalate the anti-government violence. Protesters are trying to keep the pressure on Hong Kong leaders, who have rejected most of their demands.
The protests were sparked by a planned law that would have allowed the extradition of criminal suspects to the mainland.
The bill has been withdrawn but the protests have become a resistance movement, with calls for full democracy.
Police and protesters faced off all day yesterday after a pitched battle the previous night in which the two sides exchanged tear gas and petrol bombs.
The protesters held their ground for most of the day but began retreating into the university near sunset, fearing they would be trapped as police fired tear gas volleys and approached from other directions.
Another group threw bricks in the street to block a main thoroughfare in the Mongkok district, as police fired tear gas to try to disperse them.
On Saturday, dozens of Chinese troops, dressed in black shorts and olive drab T-shirts, ran out in loose formation and picked up paving stones, rocks and other obstacles that had cluttered the street. The military is allowed to help maintain public order but only at the request of the Hong Kong government.
The government said it had not requested the military’s assistance, describing it as a voluntary community activity.