Three Taiwanese universities on Wednesday said that they would help three Hong Kong students enrolled at their schools should they wish to keep their statuses as students, after they were recently arrested for participating in pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and barred from leaving the territory.
According to media reports, a Hong Kong court prohibited Lee Sin-ying (李倩瑩) and Lai King-chi (黎擎智) from leaving the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region after they were accused of rioting outside the police station in Sham Shui Po District on Thursday last week.
They were released on bail earlier this week, the reports said.
A third student, surnamed Law (羅), was also barred from leaving Hong Kong for participating in another protest on Aug. 11, the reports said.
Lee, Lai and Law are reportedly studying at National Dong Hwa University, Soochow University in Taipei and the National Taiwan University of Arts respectively.
Representatives from the three universities confirmed the arrests, saying that their schools would help the students keep their statuses as students or apply for a suspension of studies, if they wished to do so.
National Taiwan University of Arts secretary-general Tsai Ming-yin (蔡明吟) said that the school has established contact with Law and pledged that the university would safeguard his right to continue to receive his education in Taiwan.
Meanwhile, Lee is scheduled to study at a Polish university for one semester later this month as part of a student exchange program, National Dong Hwa University secretary-general Ku Chih-hsiung (古智雄) said.
The plan could be affected by her arrest, Ku said, adding that the school would offer all necessary assistance.
An official at Soochow University said that the school had contacted Lai and learned that his passport has been confiscated and he cannot return to Taiwan.
According to Hong Kong’s Ming Pao, Lee and Law were among 18 suspects arrested for participating in the protest outside the Sham Shui Po police station.
A court hearing is to be held in November, the newspaper reported.
Lee’s lawyer said that Lee was simply standing among the protesters and did not attack police as accused, the report said.
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