The heads of Hong Kong’s Polytechnic University have urged police to end their siege of the university’s campus after a thorough search today failed to turn up any protesters, with police saying they will enter the campus tomorrow to assist with clean-up, but don’t expect to find any holdouts.
A statement released by the university at 4pm today said that there was no need for police to carry out their own search of the campus, and requested the relevant government departments to help remove or neutralize any dangerous materials left on campus by protesters during the 10-day occupation, including petrol bombs and other weapons.
“In performing their duties, we urge the authorities to take a humane approach to ensure the personal safety of all concerned,” the statement adds.
Conditions inside the sealed-off institution of higher learning had been steadily deteriorating for days, and a search team yesterday reportedly only found one protester still on campus — a young woman who was visibly weak and emotionally disturbed. Another search today, allegedly of every room on campus, found no one, though one university official said yesterday that they couldn’t completely rule out the remote possibility there could be others in hiding.
Pro-democracy lawmaker Ted Hui gave a press conference today urging police not to enter campus immediately in the event that some protesters may still be holed up inside, adding that police should allow time for anyone still inside to leave voluntarily, RTHK reports.
The team is climbing flights of stairs to check every floor. They are calling out to the "手足“, meaning hands and feet, a term protesters have been using to refer to one another to show their unity pic.twitter.com/jESX2AqDGK
— Chris Lau (@hkchrislau) November 26, 2019
Speaking to reporters this evening, chief superintendent Ho Yun-sing, the district commander of Yau Tsim District, confirmed that officers will enter the university tomorrow morning, and that they will be accompanied by members of the university management.
They said that they will only be going in to clear dangerous items like petrol bombs and corrosive liquids, and to gather evidence of extensive damage inside the school.
When asked if they would be staging arrests and what would police do if they do encounter a protester still inside, Ho said that it was very unlikely they would see any protesters inside as the university management had already searched the campus for two days.
Ho said: “If we still encounter a few of them, we will convince them to get medical treatment, take down their details, take their photograph, and follow up with them later.”
That multiple search parties have turned up no one could mark an end to the occupation of PolyU, which had previously been the scene of intense clashes.
In another sign of normalcy returning to the Hung Hom campus, the nearby Cross Harbour Tunnel re-opened at 5am this morning.
More than two weeks ago, four of the city’s universities — Chinese University, Hong Kong University, Baptist University, and PolyU — were turned into veritable fortresses as they became epicenters of protest activities, with campuses becoming the scene of pitched battles between police and mostly student protesters.
After a few days, however, PolyU was the only university still locked in a standoff with police.
At one point, hundreds of protesters, man under 18 years old, were holed up inside the campus. But numbers have dwindled in recent days, with some handing themselves over and others staging dramatic escapes.
