Police and protesters clashed at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Saturday, November 16, 2019.
Riot police threw tear gas and protesters responded by throwing Molotov cocktails and setting up barricades made of bricks.
Over the past week, some students took over university campuses, many of which were closed early for the semester because of the unrest.
Students at the sites in some cases collected makeshift weapons, such as bricks, slingshots and Molotov cocktails, which they say are used to defend themselves from police attacks.
Dozens of Chinese People’s Liberation Army soldiers helped clear protester barricades from a street Saturday, emerging from their barracks for the first time since protests engulfed the semi-autonomous Chinese territory five months ago.
Pro-democracy lawmakers immediately condemned the move as a violation of the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, which forbids interference by mainland Chinese soldiers unless the Hong Kong government formally requests action.
Police Arrest Protesters at Hong Kong Polytechnic University (11-18-2019)
Riot police charge and arrest protesters as they try to get to Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Monday, November 18. The university has been the battleground between police and protesters as violence flared up between the two sides over the weekend.
The president of the Polytechnic University, which has been under siege in Hong Kong, said he has brokered a truce with police.
Teng Jin-Guang said it would allow the hundreds of protesters trapped inside the campus to leave peacefully. It was the second concerted attempt by students to flee the urban campus, which has been surrounded by police who have repeatedly warned they will use lethal force.
Hong Kong Polytechnic University is one of at least five campuses where students this week barricaded themselves in, blocking roads and collecting makeshift weapons in case of an attack by authorities. Most of the protesters had left the other campuses by Saturday, though a group of hardcore protesters remained at Polytechnic.
