A totally insane Monday in Hong Kong has unsurprisingly bled into Tuesday with protests raging on across the city, turning university campuses into battlegrounds.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has been the scene of continued clashes between student protesters and police throughout the day. To stop officers from coming in, students erected barricades around campus, even setting one van on fire.
In an attempt to disperse the protesters, police have fired tear gas on campus. Clips from the prestigious university show it looking more like a war zone.
CUHK 2019.11.12
Chinese University of #HongKong is a war zone today. pic.twitter.com/3sX5ivYhyN— carolys (@carolys15752901) November 12, 2019
Here’s what the Chinese University of Hong Kong #CUHK looks like from a distance as riot police and protesters clash on campus #HongKongProtests #香港 pic.twitter.com/9qTk042Kui
— Bloomberg TicToc (@tictoc) November 12, 2019
The mountain is on fire, the campus is under siege. The VC has entered police lines to 'negotiate'. Pics from CUHK colleagues pic.twitter.com/jkRATrJSzX
— Yuen Chan (@xinwenxiaojie) November 12, 2019
Due to safety concerns, all classes at CUHK were canceled on Tuesday and won’t resume on Wednesday. A number of other schools and universities in the city have also followed suit including Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
At Polytechnic, student protesters looked to disrupt traffic near campus, throwing trash cans and other debris from an overpass onto a road below:
Over a dozen black-clad protesters threw rubbish bins and debris on to Chatham Road South from a footbridge to the PolyU campus.
Video: SCMP/Kathleen Magramo pic.twitter.com/epnt2JI7bS
— SCMP Hong Kong (@SCMPHongKong) November 12, 2019
Though the demonstrations haven’t been confined to just the university campuses. At noon, more than a thousand protesters flooded Central in a flash mob protest, blocking traffic in Hong Kong’s business district during lunchtime.
Following the break, hundreds of them have also stuck around.
White collars not super impressed by Carrie Lam’s “enemies of the people” speech by the look of it – this is Central business district at 1.43 pm in Hong Kong pic.twitter.com/3BI6gwujym
— Ilaria Maria Sala (@IlariaMariaSala) November 12, 2019
This is the second day in a row Central workers have used their lunch break to come out like this while frontliners create defensive barriers.
It's an apt illustration of how many moderates say they won't abandon their more violent colleagues pic.twitter.com/Fq1eJmGqNp
— Jerome Taylor (@JeromeTaylor) November 12, 2019
In Central: the Pedder St / Des Voeux Rd intersection is barricaded, as is Connaught Rd. Police left a while ago, a few hundred protesters fortifying here and anticipating their return. pic.twitter.com/Fzxyfxxgc6
— Antony Dapiran (@antd) November 12, 2019
Meanwhile, many workers had a hard time getting to work in the morning with widespread road closures and suspended railway services as protesters even threw debris onto MTR tracks.
Inside metro stations, long lines formed as police searched and questioned commuters.
Police at Tiu Keng Leng are asking people, one by one, if they are responding to online calls to participate in the traffic disruption.
The police told this man to watch the news from home if he only wants to watch the force take action.
Video: SCMP/Lilian Cheng pic.twitter.com/U0V3Rga7CR
— SCMP Hong Kong (@SCMPHongKong) November 12, 2019
