Schools close after third day of violent clashes in Hong Kong
Things in Hong Kong are not looking good: After three days of increasingly violent clashes between protesters and police, “Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong says the city is ‘sliding into the abyss of terrorism’ and a harsher crackdown is needed to end the unrest and restore order,” according to the South China Morning Post.
One reason for the violence: “Police have begun raiding the edges of the biggest campuses to make arrests, leading student activists to engage with them in pitched battles that resemble medieval sieges,” according to the New York Times.
What happened yesterday? From ABC:
Scores of masked protesters wielding makeshift weapons and armor barricaded themselves inside the Chinese University of Hong Kong on Wednesday after violent clashes with riot police overnight…They have amassed a stockpile of gasoline bombs along with various rudimentary weapons, including bows and arrows, homemade slingshots and gasoline-dipped javelins…
The Chinese University of Hong Kong and several other colleges in the city have canceled classes for the rest of the academic semester as the protesters, who are thought to be high school and college students, have turned the campuses into battlefields. Primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong have also suspended classes for Thursday.
Public transportation was disrupted across Hong Kong on Wednesday morning as protesters blocked streets, prevented train doors from closing and vandalized railway cars.
Police have helped dozens of university students from mainland China evacuate Hong Kong.
And in case you missed it, the Global Times issues a very stern warning on Monday:
We want to tell Hong Kong police: Fear nothing and resolutely guard the city’s peace and tranquility in accordance with law. Be strong, be tough. You are fighting in the frontline but you are not alone. You are supported by a great number of people who love the country and the city. When necessary, the People’s Armed Police Force and the People’s Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison will back you up in accordance with the Basic Law.
We call on the vast majority of Hong Kong citizens to express your attitude more solidly and help police against rioters. Those who still pity rioters must wake up: The mobs are destroying the civilized and modernized Hong Kong as well as Hongkongers’ home and future.
We also warn the radical protesters: You are on the edge of doom. Those who are coerced to be “valiant” should walk away as soon as possible when you still can make the call. Those who stubbornly engage in evil acts will eventually be punished by law and morality.
Other news from the City of Protest:
Kids behind bars: “There has been more than a fourfold rise in under two months in the number of students aged below 16 arrested during the ongoing unrest in Hong Kong, a trend lawmakers have described as ‘worrying,’” says the South China Morning Post.
“Finance firms in Hong Kong urged staff on Wednesday to seek safety or work from home as anti-government protests paralyzed the city’s business district for a third day,” reports Reuters.
“The European Union on Tuesday declared that a full investigation was needed into the ‘root causes’ of protests in Hong Kong, where police and protesters turned the campus of one of its top universities into a battlefield,” reports the South China Morning Post.
“Organizations in Shenzhen and Hong Kong have joined the central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong to offer help to mainland students amid campus clashes in the special administrative region,” according to the South China Morning Post.
