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Hong Kong: Fire blazes in front of the University

2019-11-18T01:49:55.340Z


Policemen are being shot at with arrows - and threatened with live ammunition: in Hong Kong, the situation continues to escalate. Protesters huddled in university buildings with barricades burning in front of them.



It was a weekend of violence in Hong Kong - and so far nothing has been felt by a relaxation of the situation. On the contrary, the most violent clashes of the past five months continued on Monday. In addition to attacks on the police with bows and arrows, the demonstrators also threw Molotov cocktails and incendiary bombs.

The police used water cannons with a skin-irritating agent and tear gas. According to the law enforcement, a policeman was hit by an arrow in the leg on Sunday and taken to the hospital (read more about the conflict here).

Many demonstrators wore gas masks or cloths over their mouths and noses to protect themselves from tear gas clouds. Some undressed except for their underwear after being soaked by a water cannon whose water, according to eyewitnesses, contained an irritant. An armored police vehicle burned by petrol bombs at Sunday's riots was towed early Monday.

Vincent Yu / DPA

Polytechnic University: current center of resistance

University is more and more like a fortress

One of the focal points is still the Polytechnic University in the financial metropolis - the last of the five universities in the city whose campus is still occupied. According to eyewitnesses, the university looks like a fortress. From the roofs the arrows were fired.

As the police approached the university's barricaded entrance gate in the morning hours (local time), protesters retreated to the campus and set fire to the gate and pedestrian bridge. In the hustle and bustle of the riots, some demonstrators wanted to leave the building, others reinforced the barricades and positioned boxes of petrol bombs around the complex. Thousands of residents and demonstrators flocked overnight to various districts around the university to penetrate the ranks of the riot police and rescue the trapped students.

more on the subject

Jerome Favre / EPA-EFE / REX Scales of Hong Kong protests "So we too need to increase violence"

Police: Use of deadly weapons will be answered accordingly

The police are very violent, said a 23-year-old news agency Reuters. "The demonstrators responded only to the police." He was ready to go to prison for his beliefs. Those who fired arrows would only defend themselves. Another student said, "We are not afraid." If the fight does not continue, the protest movement will fail.

In Monday's statement, the police warned the demonstrators not to use deadly weapons against the police and stop further violence. The officials would otherwise react with counter-violence and, if necessary, use live ammunition.

Civil rights activist Joshua Wong, on the other hand, has defended the use of force by the demonstrators in Hong Kong. "With purely peaceful protest, we will not reach our goal," Wong told the "Süddeutsche Zeitung". "By force, of course not, we need both."

Concern for the further action of the army

Since June, tens of thousands of people have been demonstrating for democracy and against the government of the Chinese Special Administrative Region, which accuse them of being too close to the leadership in Beijing. The initially peaceful protests became more and more violent - on both sides.

For additional unrest caused a performance of Chinese soldiers on Saturday in the streets of the metropolis: For the first time since the beginning of the protests in June, the soldiers left their barracks. Pictures showed, among other things, clearing stones from a road. The action attracted much attention because of fears that China might have the protests thrown out by the military.

The Communist leadership in Beijing had recently hinted at intensifying the pace of the conflict. However, most observers still consider military intervention unlikely because China would then have to face international proscription.

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2019-11-18

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