University of Calgary encourages its exchange students to vacate Hong Kong
- by Lorene Schwartz
- in People
- — Nov 20, 2019
Hong Kong Polytechnic University has been at the centre of the standoff in the past week and has seen the most intense violence in five months of anti-government demonstrations.
The University of British Columbia said it's making efforts to get in contact with all 32 of its students known to have been studying in Hong Kong.
"It makes us worry what Beijing will do to take away the power of the Hong Kong court (s)".
"These rioters, they are also criminals".
It condemned the Hong Kong High Court decision to veto the ban on face masks during public demonstrations.
On Monday, officers were also able to shutter all exits to Hong Kong Polytechnic University, effectively trapping several hundred student protesters within the school.
Lam said 600 protesters had left the campus, including 200 below the age of 18.
The Hong Kong Bar Association, which regulates lawyers, said Zang's remarks were "legally incorrect", adding Beijing's stance "undermines the high degree of autonomy" granted to the city and "could be perceived to be meant to put pressure on the judiciary". "It's 35 years in the making but they know we need to defend our democracy and freedom", Tang said.
Exhausted and low on supplies, hundreds of the holed-up protesters have surrendered, while others have attempted to escape including by crawling through drains.
Police spokesmen said they fired three live rounds early on Monday but no one was hurt. "As the universities are closed it is best for them to come back". Fiery explosions could be seen as protesters responded with gasoline bombs.
The city's hospital authority reported 221 injuries over the past day, with 12 people in serious condition.
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Protesters set fire to a bridge that connects the academic institution with a subway station, spread messages on social networks of deadly clashes and prepared explosives with chlorine gas, Global Times reported.
"If the protesters are coming out in a peaceful manner. then there is no situation when that sort of violence would happen", she said.
The protesters, meanwhile, made gains on a legal front when the high court struck down the ban on face masks.
Monday's ruling said the ban infringed on fundamental rights more than is reasonably necessary.
Numerous protesters wear masks to shield their identities for protection. Still more could face charges for rioting.
The unrest began as a pushback against an attempt by the city's Beijing-backed government to hustle through a bill that would have allowed the extradition of accused criminals to mainland China.
"We use force when there is violence", incoming Hong Kong police chief Chris Tang told the South China Morning Post.
The anti-government protesters barricaded themselves inside Polytechnic last week.
Another worrying development is that, over the weekend, soldiers of the Chinese People's Liberation Army "volunteered" to leave their base in Kowloon to help clean up the roadblocks near a university. Two walked about with bows and arrows. This all amid a heavy police presence, and occasional volleys of tear gas and rubber bullets. At least 38 have been injured, and dozens more arrested.
Police issued a "wanted" notice for the 20-year-old woman and said anyone who aided her could be charged with assisting an offender, which can be punished by up to 10 years in prison.
