Hong Kong saw another day of travel chaos and protests across the city on Wednesday, a day after violent clashes and a prolonged standoff at a university campus.
On Tuesday, hundreds of black-clad protesters, many of them students, attempted to block riot police from entering the prestigious and largely isolated Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) near Tai Po. Under a barrage of constant tear gas, protesters hurled bricks and petrol bombs at police.
Smoke could be seen across parts of the New Territories, as protesters built massive bonfires from barricades and an abandoned car. The fierce confrontation continued well into the early hours, as police kept threatening a clearance of the campus. Throughout Wednesday, protesters kept fortifying the campus, building massive barricades and stockpiling weapons, even constructing a makeshift catapult to fire bricks and petrol bombs at police.
As of late Wednesday evening, police have made no attempt to enter the campus, even as they cleared multiple other protest camps across the city with tear gas and baton charges.
Late Wednesday, a Hong Kong court rejected an application by students to block police from entering the campus without a warrant. Administrators also announced the early cancellation of classes, stopping the fall semester around two weeks early.
Unrest is expected to continue throughout the week, and CUHK will likely be the main focus, as protesters on campus arm themselves with with unconventional weapons including bows and arrows and javelins.
Attention in the city has been focused on the campus, and dramatic pictures coming out of it overnight largely replaced those from earlier this week on front pages and social media, including the shooting of a protester by a police officer and the setting on fire of a man following a dispute with protesters Monday.
