Police raise security around Hong Kong after night clashes

Police increased security around Hong Kong and its university campuses Wednesday as y braced for more violence after sharp clashes overnight with anti-government protesters. Many subway and rail stations were closed after protesters blocked commutes and vandalized trains. Classes were suspended at universities, and parents of school students vised y could keep ir children home. Police and protesters battled on multiple fronts overnight at Chinese University of Hong Kong. Gasoline bombs and fires lit nighttime scene, and situation remained tense in morning and early afteron.

A police official warned protesters were carrying out “insane acts” and Hong Kong was on brink of a total breakdown after more than five months of protests. “Our society has been pushed to brink of a total breakdown,” Senior Police Superintendent Kong Wing-heung said late Tuesday. He said Hong Kong’s mass transit system and subway, kwn as MRT, was under stress from acts of violence and vandalism. “Masked rioters have lost control and committed insane acts like throwing trash, bicycles and large objects onto MTR tracks, hanging trash on overhe power lines,” he ded.

Groups of riot police were deployed around central Hong Kong and its outlying territories to try and contain new violence, even as students at Chinese University — located in outskirts of sprawling metropolis — prepared for new clashes with police. Many were armed with gasoline bombs while some carried bows and arrows.

university’s student union president, Jacky So, appealed for an injunction with High Court to ban police from entering campus without a warrant, or school’s approval. Police h entered campus and fired tear gas and used a water cann late Tuesday. injunction would also block police from using crowd control weapons, such as tear gas and rubber bullets at university. A decision is expected late Wednesday.

city’s religious leers appealed Wednesday for an end to violence and called on both police and protesters to show restraint. “At this very critical point, people of Hong Kong must unite and say to violence,” said a statement issued by leers of Hong Kong’s six major religious groups. A statement from Chinese government’s liaison office in Hong Kong said that semi-automous territory is “slipping into abyss of terrorism.” It called setting of a man on fire an act of “flagrant terrorism.”

On Monday, a police officer drew his gun during a struggle with protesters, shooting one in abdomen. In ar neighborhood, a 57-year-old man who was defending China was set on fire after an apparent argument.
man remained in critical condition, while protester h his condition upgred to serious from critical. Recent weeks have been marked by escalating vandalism of shops linked to mainland China and train stations, and assaults by both protesters and pro-Beijing supporters. Police have arrested more than 3,500 people since movement began in June.

protests began over a proposed law that would have allowed criminal suspects to be extrited to mainland China, where y could face opaque and politically sensitive trials. Activists saw bill as ar sign of an erosion in Hong Kong’s automy and civic freedoms, which China promised would be maintained for 50 years under a “one nation, two systems” principle when former British colony returned to Chinese control in 1997. Hong Kong leer Carrie Lam eventually withdrew bill but has insisted violence stop before any furr political dialogue can take place.