Hong Kong: Student's death invokes fresh outrage among protestors

Fresh outrage has been trigged in Hong Kong after a university student who fell during the pro-democracy protests at the weekend died on the morning of November 8. This was also the first death during the months-long unrest in the city against the government which has triggered anger and has started a new outrage among people. Alex Chow, who was an undergraduate student at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology died of injuries as confirmed by the hospital authorities. This incident has expected to upset the demonstraters even more and could lead to an intensification of pressure on police authorities who are already struggling to contain the unrest. 

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Protestors jammed the hospital

Thousands of demonstrators flooded the hospital over the week to pray for Chow. Hundreds of people left messages of his fast recovery on the notice board inside the building along with flowers. Some of the university students also staged rallies at their campuses across the former British colony. There were reportedly messages like ' there are a lot of things you need to see' for Chow who was died of cardiac arrest after being in a coma since the morning of November 4. It was mainly the students and youth of Hong Kong of being leaders of many protests organized in the city during the months-long unrest. 'Keep your strength up' which is also one of the marching cries of the protesters, was also written in one of the messages left for Chow.

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Unclear fall

Chow, who was found under the building on the ground in an unconscious state with heavy blood loss on Monday following the violent clash between the demonstrators and the police officials. The student was at the same spot where Police had fired tear gas on demonstrators. Protesters were seen hurling objects from the building. It is still uncertain how Chow met such fate, whether he was pushed deliberately or fell during the chaos. Some reports suggest that he fell while police fire tear-gas. Protesters claim that police also delayed the deployment of emergency medical services to the victim as the forces were busy firing tear gas. Though the police department has admitted to firing tear gas to disperse protesters near the car park, they said there was only a small amount of gas in the air when emergency responders found Chow.

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(With inputs from agency)