Dozens of pro-democracy protesters were standing firm within the besieged Hong Kong Polytechnic University on Wednesday, where an “SOS” sign was laid out as supporters took up calls to distract police surrounding the campus by disrupting city transport.
The four-day standoff between demonstrators and police at PolyU rippled overseas, with the UN’s human rights office urging a peaceful resolution, while the US Senate passed new legislation supporting protesters’ demands.
The epicenter of nearly six months of increasingly intense pro-democracy protests has shifted in recent days to the PolyU campus, a stone’s throw from the city’s harbor, where hardcore protesters have held off riot police with molotov cocktails, bricks, and even arrows.
Protesters at PolyU said around 50 of their number remained after hundreds had fled — in sometimes-dramatic fashion — amid deteriorating conditions.
Exhausted bands of youths continued to wander the debris-strewn campus, preparing molotov cocktails while others slept on a gym floor.
A large “SOS” sign was laid out across an open courtyard, apparently intended to be viewed from above.
A 20-year-old protester who gave his name as Ken said food and water were running low.
“We will die because they don’t let me out. Some people want to get out but they cannot. So we left this SOS,” he told AFP.
The holdouts included around 20 of the university’s students, a PolyU official said.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam called Tuesday for protesters to surrender, adding that those over 18 would face rioting charges, but minors would not be arrested.
“I don’t ever give up. Yes, I will fight until the end,” said a 15-year-old holdout armed with bow and arrow who identified himself as William. “But… it’s very dangerous, because when you use the bow, the police must shoot you, with some unknown bullets. Maybe real bullets.”
Some were medically evacuated overnight, and on Wednesday before dawn, AFP journalists watched as police chased down and arrested around a dozen students making a break for it.
Police said that since the siege began, nearly 900 people at the campus had turned themselves in as of Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, the UN human rights office was watching the university situation with “deepening concern,” spokesman Rupert Colville said in Geneva.
Colville acknowledged protesters’ “deep-seated grievances,” but condemned the “extreme violence” of some demonstrators, and called on authorities to seek a peaceful resolution.
Police said 213 people were charged in court on Wednesday with rioting for one of the diversionary actions earlier this week. The charge carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.
But online protest appeals again brought citizens to the streets in some places Wednesday.
