Hong Kong varsity campus under siege, cops battle protesters

Hong Kong, November 18 

As night fell on Hong Kong, police tightened their siege of a university campus where hundreds of protesters were trapped in the latest dramatic episode in months of protests against growing Chinese control over the semi-autonomous city.

The city's work week began Monday with multiple protests that disrupted traffic, while schools remained closed because of safety concerns stemming from the demonstrations, which began in June but have become increasingly violent in recent weeks.

The pitched battle for control of the campus of Hong Kong Polytechnic University has been the centre of the most recent developments.  For days, protesters have fortified the campus to keep out the police.  Now cornered by police determined to arrest them, they desperately tried to get out but faced a cordon of officers armed with tear gas and water cannons.

Officers repelled one escape attempt on Monday morning with tear gas, driving hundreds of protesters back onto the campus. 

Later, huge crowds of supporters advanced on foot toward the police from outside the cordon to try to disrupt the police operation.

Some protesters abseiled off a footbridge to a road below, where they were met by motorbike riders helping them flee. It was unclear whether they got away safely.

Senior government officials said they were trying to de-escalate the situation and urged the protesters to peacefully leave the campus and cooperate with police — advice that seemed certain to lead to arrests and therefore strengthened the protesters' resolve to resist.

Police, who have warned that everyone in the area could be charged with rioting, reportedly made a handful of arrests. — AP