A Hong Kong university campus under siege for more than a week was a deserted wasteland yesterday, with a handful of protesters holed up in hidden refuges across the trashed grounds, as the territory’s focus turned to local elections.
The siege neared its end as some protesters at Polytechnic University on the Kowloon Peninsula desperately sought a way out and others vowed not to surrender, days after some of the worst violence since anti-government demonstrations escalated in June.
“If they storm in, there are a lot of places for us to hide,” said Sam, a 21-year-old student, who was eating instant noodles in the cafeteria, while plotting his escape.
Photo: Reuters
Another protester, Ron, vowed to remain until the end, adding: “The message will be clear that we will never surrender.”
Scores of construction workers worked at the mouth of the Cross-Harbour Tunnel, closed for more than a week after it was first blockaded, to repair toll booths smashed by protesters and clear debris from approach roads.
The tunnel links Hong Kong island to the Kowloon area.
The repairs began as a record 1,104 people geared up to run for 452 district council seats in elections today.
A record 4.1 million Hong Kongers, from a population of 7.4 million, have enrolled to vote, spurred in part by registration campaigns during months of protests.
Young democracy advocates are running in some of the seats that were once uncontested and dominated by pro-Beijing candidates.
In an interview with Fox News Channel on Friday, US President Donald Trump said he had told Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that crushing the protests would have “a tremendous negative impact” on efforts to end the two countries’ 16-month-long trade dispute.
“If it weren’t for me Hong Kong would have been obliterated in 14 minutes,” Trump said, without offering any evidence.
“He’s got a million soldiers standing outside of Hong Kong that aren’t going in only because I ask him: ‘Please don’t do it, you’ll be making a big mistake, it’s going to have a tremendous negative impact on the trade deal,’ and he wants to make a trade deal,” Trump said.
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