The president of an embattled university in Hong Kong on Friday urged protesters, some of whom are not students at the university, to leave, while not ruling out the option of seeking assistance from the local government
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th November, 2019) The president of an embattled university in Hong Kong on Friday urged protesters, some of whom are not students at the university, to leave, while not ruling out the option of seeking assistance from the local government.
Amid rising violence in Hong Kong in the past week, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), similar to many other universities in the city, has become the Primary battleground where radical black-clad protesters, many of whom are university students, clash with police officers.
"As the university's operations have been seriously affected, I hereby ask all the people who are not from this university to leave. The university is a place for study. It's not a place for political disputes or even a battlefield of making weapons and using them. If the university cannot continue to carry out its basic mission and tasks, we must seek assistance from relevant government departments to resolve the ongoing crisis," Rocky Tuan said in an open letter.
After protesters occupied the No.2 Bridge next to the CUHK and hurled petrol bombs and other objects to disrupt traffic on the highway under the bridge on Monday, police officers in Hong Kong tried to remove them by force, but were forced to retreat following several failed attempts.
During regular press briefings this week, the Hong Kong police called the CUHK a "weapons factory" where hundreds of petrol bombs were being made. At the same time, student protesters defending the CUHK claimed the police of using excessive forces by firing over thousands rounds of tear gas on the university's campus.
As the police continued to try to remove the protesters from the No.2 Bridge and disperse the protesters at the CUHK, student unions of various universities in Hong Kong issued a joint statement calling on students from other universities to join the efforts to defend the CUHK.
According to Tuan, the entrances of the CUHK have been occupied by masked protesters since Wednesday and everyone entering the university would have to be checked by masked protesters before allowed entry.
Amid the ongoing chaos, the CUHK has decided to terminate the current semester ahead of schedule and help the students to evacuate from the campus.
The massive protests began in Hong Kong in early June over a controversial extradition bill, which was officially withdrawn in October. Frustrated with the local authorities' heavy-handed responses to the protests, the demonstrators expanded their demands to an independent investigation into alleged police brutality and greater civil liberties, including universal suffrage, while calling for the resignation of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam.
Beijing has repeatedly stated that the situation in Hong Kong is a result of foreign interference in China's domestic affairs and expressed full support for the actions of the local authorities.
