After nearly two weeks of siege, Hong Kong police have today withdrawn from the campus of the Polytechnic University, where some of the most serious clashes occurred during protests in recent months. Hundreds of police officers had secured evidence in the ravaged complex of buildings since the day before, in which protesters had entrenched themselves.They also removed thousands of incendiary devices, arrows, chemicals and other dangerous material. The police said they found about 3,000 incendiary devices and hundreds of bottles of mordants.
Scene of violent clashes
The campus on the Kowloon Peninsula became the scene of intense clashes between the security forces and demonstrators in mid-November. Some 1,100 people were arrested last week, some attempting to flee the sealed-off university. More protests are planned for the weekend.
Thousands of people have been taking to the streets in Hong Kong for months because they fear China’s growing influence and see their rights threatened. The former British Crown Colony has been a Special Administrative Region since 1997. This gives citizens more rights than mainland Chinese. China has threatened to intervene in Hong Kong should the situation escalate.
