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WORLD NEWS Monday 18 noveMber 2019

Hong Kong police launch operation to flush out protesters

By KEN MORITSUGU barricaded the entrances
Associated Press to the campus and set
HONG KONG (AP) — Po- up narrow access control
lice launched a late-night points.
operation Sunday to try to They are the holdouts from
flush about 200 protesters larger groups that occu-
out of a university cam- pied several major cam-
pus on a day of clashes in puses for much of last week.
which an officer was hit in Another group threw bricks
the leg with an arrow and in the street to block a main
massive barrages of tear thoroughfare in the Mong-
gas and water cannons kok district, as police fired
were fired. tear gas to try to disperse
Riot police began moving them. The disruption to
in on one group of protest- Nathan Road traffic may
ers outside the campus af- have been an attempt to
ter issuing an ultimatum for distract police during the
people to leave area. They standoff at Polytechnic.
used tear gas and water Opposition lawmakers criti-
cannons on a resistant cized the Chinese military
crowd wearing raincoats for joining a cleanup to
and carrying umbrellas. remove debris from streets
Protesters used bows and A protestor prepares to fire a bow and arrow during a confrontation with police at the Hong Kong near Hong Kong Baptist
arrows earlier in the day, Polytechnic University in Hong Kong, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2019. University on Saturday.
and one arrow struck a Associated Press Dozens of Chinese troops,
media liaison officer in the calate the violence in the as the growing control of try to clean up the road dressed in black shorts and
calf. Photos on the depart- more than five-month-long Hong Kong by Communist but were warned away by olive drab T-shirts, ran out in
ment’s Facebook page anti-government move- China, along with calls for protesters. Riot police shot loose formation and picked
show the arrow sticking out ment. Protesters are trying full democracy for the ter- several volleys of tear gas up paving stones, rocks
of the back of the officer’s to keep the pressure on ritory. at the protesters, who shel- and other obstacles that
leg through his pants. Hong Kong leaders, who Several hundred people tered behind a wall of um- had cluttered the street
As riot police moved in from have rejected most of their formed a human chain brellas and threw gasoline The military is allowed to
all sides, some protesters re- demands. Sunday in central Hong bombs into nearby bushes help maintain public or-
treated inside Hong Kong The protests were sparked Kong in a peaceful rally in and trees, setting them on der, but only at the request
Polytechnic University while by proposed legislation support of the movement. fire. The protesters held their of the Hong Kong govern-
others set fires on bridges that would have allowed Azaze Chung, a university ground for most of the day, ment. The government said
leading to it. the extradition of criminal student, said the govern- as water cannon trucks that it had not requested
A huge blaze burned along suspects to the mainland. ment should respond to the drove over bricks and nails the military’s assistance,
much of a long footbridge Activists saw it as an erosion protesters’ demands, not strewn by protesters to describing it as a voluntary
that connects a train sta- of Hong Kong’s autonomy just use force against them. spray them at close range community activity.
tion to the campus over the under the “one country, Police and protesters faced — some with water dyed The Education Bureau an-
approach to the Cross-Har- two systems” formula im- off all day outside Polytech- blue to help police identify nounced that classes from
bour Tunnel, a major road plemented in 1997, when nic after a pitched battle protesters afterward. kindergarten to high school
under Hong Kong’s harbor Britain returned the territory the previous night in which Protesters began retreat- would be suspended again
that has been blocked by to China. the two sides exchanged ing into the university near on Monday because of
the protesters for days. The bill has been with- tear gas and gasoline sunset, fearing they would safety concerns. Classes
The use of bows and ar- drawn, but the protests bombs that left fires blazing be trapped as police fired have been canceled since
rows, along with a gasoline have expanded into a wid- in the street. tear gas volleys and ap- Thursday, after the bureau
bombs launched with cat- er resistance movement A large group of people proached from other direc- came under criticism for
apults, threatened to es- against what is perceived arrived in the morning to tions. The protesters have not doing so earlier.q