A Hong Kong police officer was injured in the leg by an arrow from the protesters. Police said the arrow hit the media liaison officer in the calf and he was taken to the hospital. The photo on the department’s Facebook page shows arrows sticking out from the back of the officer’s feet through pants.
As riot police moved from all sides, some protesters retreated inside Hong Kong Polytechnic University while others set fire to the bridge leading to it.
A large flame burned along a long bridge that connects the train station to the upper campus near the Cross-Harbour Tunnel, the main road under the port of Hong Kong that has been blocked by protesters for days.
Demonstrators used bows and arrows, together with petrol bombs launched with slingshots, and threatened to increase violence in the anti-government movement for more than five months.
Police and protesters faced off throughout the day outside the Polytechnic after a fierce battle the night before where police fired tear gas and were retaliated by demonstrators using gasoline bombs that caused fires to burn in the streets.
A large group of people arrived in the morning to try to clear the road but were threatened by protesters. Riot police fired some tear gas at the protesters, who took cover behind the umbrella wall and threw petrol bombs at nearby bushes and trees, burning them.
The protesters began to retreat to the university at sunset, They had barricaded the entrance to the campus and set up a narrow access control point.
Demonstrators had occupied the university for a week, during a 16 hour siege. Black Bloc groups, on Sunday nights, throw Molotov cocktails and bricks at police. Previously an armoured police car was burned while trying to cross the bridge to the campus.
The deadlock came after one of the meanest weeks in more than five months of anti-government protests.
The increase in violence lately has raised concerns over whether elections for the city district council, scheduled for November 24, can continue.
Protesters on Sunday began large-scale gunfire on the overpass near the Cross-Harbour Tunnel. Several explosions occurred, with fire falling into the street under the overpass. The tunnel remained closed on Sunday, as it had been for days. Fire destroyed the toll gate and debris still covered the road.
Shortly after 11 pm, police pushed back the barricade built by protesters south of the university next to the tunnel.
“We are surrounded now,” said a PolyU student with the surname Tam, who said that he was on a fortified campus. The protesters said that they would occupy the campus to the end. The police arrested a number of people at the scene.
Midnight fighting raged throughout the city as other groups tried to pull police resources from the university and support the protesters there.
Police Inspector Louis Lau warned “cold-blooded rioters” to stop using Molotov cocktails, arrows, cars and life-threatening weapons to attack police officers. If they continue with such behaviour, Mr. Lau said, “We will have no choice but to use the minimum force needed to overcome the situation, including real bullets.”
Monday morning, PolyU board member Owan Li appealed to the Hong Kong government.
“Do something to save this university, save students, save the future of Hong Kong.”
Li told reporters that he was afraid of many students and protesters who were on campus.
The Civil Rights Front, an umbrella group that organizes some of the biggest marches and demonstrations during the summer, calls on the Hong Kong government and police to worsen the situation.
“With the atmosphere of tension and the escalation of police use of force, we are worried that the demonstrators, who are mostly young people and our future, will face arrests with bloodshed,” the group said Sunday.
The university condemned the behaviour of the protesters who occupied the campus and urged them to leave immediately.
“The university is very concerned that increased radical illegal activities will cause not only exceptional security threats on campus, but also class deferrals for an unlimited period of time.”
In addition, police said they were forced to user remote acoustic devices mounted on armored vehicles. It is believed this is the first time the device has been deployed in protest. Police said it was used to broadcast messages over long distances in a noisy environment, and rejected claims from protest groups that the device could be used as a weapon to confuse people.
“I don’t know why they use so much weaponry,” said a 20-year-old demonstrator named Ben. He said he was very worried about the use of acoustic devices. “The reason we continue to stand here is that the only thing we have is the university and the right to defend our freedom,” he said.
As a result of the riots, the Education Bureau said schools throughout Hong Kong will remain closed on Monday. They are also closed on Thursday and Friday. Many universities have suspended classes for the remainder of this semester.
Some of the worst incidents between protesters and police occurred during the latest workweek, making the roads and tunnels unusable, disrupting public transportation and often leaving the busy financial district of the city under the fog of tear gas.
Unlike other campuses, such as the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Polytechnic University is in the center of the city, close to a number of main roads including cross-port tunnels.
Management of Hong Kong Polytechnic University also issued a statement saying “hazardous chemicals” had been stolen from the laboratory.
“We understand that students care about the current social situation, however, they must be calm and rational when fighting for anything,” the statement said. “Using violence or other radical actions will not help solve the problem.”
In a statement the police labeled the group that occupied the university “rioters,” a term contained in the Hong Kong protest which carried a heavy prison sentence if convicted.
Polytechnic University is also less than 164 feet (50 meters) from the base of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). So far there are no signs that the country’s military will be used to crack down on protesters.
Previously, it was known that a 70-year-old man, beaten with a brick during a clash between protesters and their opponents, the old man died of his injuries. The police said that it was the work of the protesters.
Demonstrators with high militancy tend to be dangerous city rioters.
The use of various weapons which are no longer as a means of defense, but rather to attack, makes the HK demonstration direction more appropriate to be seen as a systemic attempt to destroy HK.
Under any pretext, the facts on the ground prove that continuous protests, which are also accompanied by acts of violence and arson, have seriously damaged democratic values.
Even more dangerous, the unilateral occupation of the university also tarnished the image of the campus as a place of intellectualism. Demonstrators Making the university a battleground, the world saw that there was something wrong with them.
Opportunities for civil war can also occur, though, the worst analysis is, the presence of the military if the situation has threatened the stability of Hong Kong, even regionally.
The complexity will be even greater, seeing in the perspective of geopolitics, where the US is also strongly suspected of “playing” in a chaotic situation in Hong Kong, and might face China directly.
