It is almost six months since the first protest of the year, and there is little sign of the tensions in Hong Kong abating.
In just the past 24 hours anti-government protestors have built barricades around several major campuses and have been seen training with bows and arrows as riot police stormed the streets.
A week ago, a 22-year-old protestor died after falling from a building during a police operation, and on Thursday it was confirmed that another man – described by authorities as an elderly street cleaner on his lunch break – had been killed, allegedly by a brick thrown during riots.
Protestors have returned time and again to the streets since June, initially in opposition to an extradition bill – which could have seen people living in Hong Kong detained in mainland China.
After the initial backlash, the bill was withdrawn, but protests have evolved into broader rebellions against both the police and the influence of Beijing.
As students barricaded campuses, including Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Chinese Universities, students from the University of Edinburgh studying abroad in Hong Kong were urged on Friday to return home.
Some universities have suspended classes for the rest of the year, while others are allowing students only to take classes online.
A total of 21 students were advised to leave as soon as possible, with a spokesperson for the University of Edinburgh stating that the suspension of classes had affected students and asked them to return “at their earliest opportunity”.
In recent weeks, several campus demonstrations run by students from Hong Kong have taken place across the UK at universities such as York and Exeter.
As tensions continue to escalate in Hong Kong, the anti-government protests not only spilt onto UK campuses, but onto the streets of London.
On Thursday evening, Hong Kong’s justice minster Teresa Cheng was filmed falling to the ground as she was surrounded by pro-democracy protestors outside the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in Bloomsbury Square.
Those protesting could be heard shouting “shame on you” at the minister, The Guardian reported, who can then be seen falling to the ground, although it is unclear from the footage whether she was pushed.
As the head of the department prosecuting protestors, Cheng is one of the most unpopular governmental figures in Hong Kong. She is also seen by many as one of the key supporters of the extradition bill, which sparked the first in the latest series of protests almost six months ago.
Despite not appearing to have sustained any serious injury during the incident, Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam said Cheng had suffered “serious bodily harm”, with the Chinese Embassy in the UK stating she had injured her hand, describing the altercation as “flagrant assault”.
A week on from the death of 22-year-old student Alex Chow, who fell from a building during a police operation, another man was killed on Thursday.
Police in Hong Kong said they were investigating the death of a 70-year-old man, who they said had been hit over the head with a brick, as a murder.
Authorities said the elderly man was a street cleaner who had been hit in by a brick which had been thrown by “masked rioters” whilst on his lunch break.
The man died of injuries on Thursday, and the Hong Kong government expressed outrage over what it called “the malicious acts of the rioters”.
As Hong Kong saw a marked intensification in violence, students behind the barricades urged the government to meet their demands and commit to holding local elections on November 24.
Protestors partially cleared a road they were blocking, but the Tolo Highway remained closed after workers who had been sent in to clear the shattered glass were threatened with bows and arrows and hard objects, authorities claimed.
“Since the highway is still filled with hard objects and devoid of any road signs or traffic cones, reopening the road would certainly cause danger to road users,” a government statement said.
The protesters at the Chinese University of Hong Kong said the road would be blocked again and warned of other unspecified consequences if the government did not meet their demand within 24 hours.
The district council elections are seen as a barometer of public sentiment in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. However, pro-democracy activists say the government may use the escalating violence as a reason to cancel the elections.
