Hong Kong protest: police fire rounds of tear gas at protesters trying to leave campus – live – The Guardian, Theguardian.com

Estimates are that more than 100 people have been arrested in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Martin Farrer

The violent scenes inHong Kongdon’t appear to have unnerved investors, who have sent the Hang Seng index up by 0. 56%. The benchmark index lost more than 1, 000 points last week amid the turmoil but it’s looking a bit healthier today, up 115 points to 26, 442.

Chinese state media labels protesters ‘competely hysterical terrorists’

The Global Times, a mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party, haspublished its take on last night’s clashesbetween police and demonstrators, whom the paper labeled “terrorists” who had turned the university into a “warzone”. The paper said that protesters had “gone completely hysterical and acted like terrorists as they attack police with lethal weapons, target innocent residents and turn campuses into battlefields.”

“At midnight,Hong KongPolice Superintendent Louis Lau Siu-pong warned rioters during a live broadcast that if they continued to attack the police with deadly weapons including Molotov cocktails and arrows, the police would respond with all possible minimum force, which would include live rounds, ”read the article.

Around 10 pm, a rioter drove a car at police and crushed one from behind. One officer fired a live round at the vehicle. The police have condemned such terrorist-like activities. Skirmishes started since Saturday night, when black-clad rioters near the PolyU staged a confrontation with police. Rioters started fires, set up barricades, hurled Molotov cocktails, while local media reported that hazardous chemicals had been stolen from multiple campus laboratories of PolyU. ”

The paper also noted that a police officer from the Force Media Liaison Cadre was shot with an arrow during the fighting.

Hong KongFree Press reports that dozens of civilians, not those who have been camped out in Poly U, have been arrested in the street after asking police to lift the siege on the university and let protesters leave.

This follows reports of police chasing away civilians from the areas near the cordon around the university, pepper-spraying them, and threatening to shoot them.

In the last half hour, the situation has escalated at the Poly U, where protesters have been bunkered down for two days .

Police attempted to storm Hong Kong’s Polytechnic University on Sunday night after a daylong battle with protesters which saw levels of violence between the two sides reach new heights on Sunday and officials threatened to use live rounds.

About 200 demonstrators remained inside the building at dawn on Monday morning when police in riot gear moved in. As they advanced, protesters set fire to one of the entrances to the university and explosions could be heard.

However, later on Monday morning, things seemed calmer and the university’s president issued a video statement urging students to surrender to police and leave the university campus, saying he had negotiated a temporary suspension of the use of force with the police.

At about 8: 30 am local time, large numbers of protesters tried to leave the university campus, but were stopped from moving through the streets by police who fired “round after round” of tear gas at protesters. Explosions and gun fire could be heard in some videos showing the protesters attempting to leave the campus, which were posted online.

Protesters were forced back into the university grounds, raising fears that the police had no interest in deescalating the situation, but were aiming to trap all protesters, so they could be arrested and punished for their role in the siege.

Some disturbing reports coming through of police using considerable force on civilians, journalists and first aiders who are trying to get close to the area cordoned off by police around the university.

(November) , 2019

There are reports that hundreds of Poly U students are trying to leave the university, as police attempt to stop them, firing tear gas at protesters. In some videos, there is what sounds like gunfire in the background, with Reuters reporting that “riot police open fire”.

Protesters are trying to leave the university campus, but are being blocked by police who are firing round after round of tear gas at the demonstrators. Jennifer Wang, a reporter on the ground, says “police have not stopped firing teargas in the last 10 mins. ”

The protesters are throwing petrol bombs at the police to try and clear a path through and get out of the university.

TheHong KongFree Press has video from inside an office at the university, where protesters hid from police. They left a mess, including blood throughout the office, as well as leaving a note addressed to the person whose office it was, which apologized for the mess, saying they “needed to escape to your office because riot police are charging by surprise.”

There are reports that a large number of protesters are now leaving the university campus.