Hong Kong campus holdouts desperately seek escape routes

HONG KONG - Anti-government protesters holed up in a Hong Kong university were frantically searching for escape routes on Tuesday after more than two days of clashes with police, dramatic breakouts by rope and motorcycle and more than 1,000 arrests in 24 hours.

Late in the evening, another small group tried to run for it through the main gate. Most, if not all, ended up running back into the campus as police shouted at them and flashed their torches rather than firing. China says it is committed to the “one country, two systems” formula, under which Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997, and has accused foreign countries of inciting trouble.

About a dozen tried and failed to flee through the university’s sewers. A Reuters witness saw them lower themselves into a tunnel wearing gas masks and plastic sheets, but the tunnel was too narrow.Protesters receive medical attention after leaving the campus of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University , in Hong Kong, China November 19, 2019. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

In the campus central square, a giant “SOS” call for help was spelled out in pink, blue and yellow bath towels. Lam said her government was very much on the “reactive side” in dealing with the protests but she did not rule out more violence even as she urged peace. Lam said she had been shocked that campuses had been turned into “weapons factories”.

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