HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong protesters spent days fortifying a university campus to prevent police access. On Monday, cornered by the authorities, they were trying to get out. Police tear-gased an attempted departure in the morning, pushing hundreds of demonstrators back to the Hong Polytechnic campus Kong.Es a pattern that has been repeated in the months of anti-government protests in the city. Protesters want to avoid arrest. The police want to arrest as many as possible.
The working week in Hong Kong began with several protests that disrupted traffic, schools closed for security reasons and a at least temporary recess in the enduring battle for control of the Polytechnic camps, when police went from using gas tear cannons and water cannons against activists to wait for them to come out. For their part, the dissatisfied won a legal battle when the high court of the territory repealed a ban on the masks introduced last month by the government. The court said it did not consider the anti-mask laws to be illegal in general, but that in this case, the law violated fundamental rights more than reasonably necessary. Many protesters wear masks to protect their identity from surveillance cameras, which could be used to identify, arrest and prosecute them. The ban has been widely ignored, and police have filed charges against protesters for wearing masks. Protests began peacefully in early June in response to a bill that would have allowed crime suspects to be extradited to mainland China for trial there. By the time the proposal was withdrawn, the protests had grown into a resistance movement against Beijing and the chinese semi-autonomous territory government. Activists see the extradition law as an example of how Hong Kong autonomy is being degraded under the authority of Beijing, since Britain returned the former colony in 1997.Government anti-government protesters barricaded theself last week in Polytechnic. Police surrounded the area on Sunday night and began to enter after launching an ultimatum at people leaving the area. The crowd wore raincoats and umbrellas to protect themselves from water cannons. Anti-riot agents broke into an early-dawn entrance as fires were burning in and out of the compound, but did not seem to go very far. Large explosions were seen as protesters responded with incendiary bombs. Police, who have warned that anyone in the area can be charged with riots, made a handful of arrests, according to reports. Protesters continued to control most of campus when the sun came up. In an outdoor area, some were preparing incendiary bombs while others rested with gas masks. Two walked armed with bows and arrows, while many looked at their cell phones. There was a moment of calm in the area after the university president said in a video message that police had agreed to suspend the use of force. Jin-Guang Teng said police would allow the protesters to leave and that he would accompany them to the police station to make sure their cases were prosecuted fairly. It seemed unlikely that the protesters would accept the offer, as they would probably all be arrested. A few hundred left campus around 8:15 a.m. in an apparent escape intenot, but were repelled by police with tear gas. Some who wore gas masks picked up the steaming cans calmly and put them in thick bags, but the protesters decided to retreat to a line of agents formed on the road later. Police deployed around the campus to try to stop protesters, who normally try to disperse after cutting off traffic or causing other interference before police arrive to stop as many as possible. Other protesters cut a major road near campus in an attempt to distract police and help those in the compound escape. Police, on the other hand, issued a search warrant for an injured woman after several protesters reportedly stopped the ambulance in which she was going, throwing stones and bricks inside and freeing her from police custody. An officer fired three shots, although according to police, he didn’t hit anyone. The 20-year-old woman had been arrested on Nathan Street, cut by protesters, for participating in illegal assembly. Anyone who helped the woman faced charges of assisting a criminal, sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, according to a statement on the police’s Facebook page.
