University of Hong Kong president vows to condemn all violence at extradition bill protests after students accuse him of ‘singling out’ demonstrators who stormed Legislative Council
- Facing threat of campus protests, Professor Zhang Xiang meets students angered by his ‘anti-demonstrator’ remarks
- Zhang says violence ‘by any party’ should be condemned after earlier issuing statement that he was ‘disheartened’ by Legco attack
The head of Hong Kong’s oldest university issued a clarification on Wednesday condemning all violence after a student petition demanded he retract a statement they said singled out protesters.
Amid the threat of campus demonstrations on Friday and Saturday, the University of Hong Kong President Zhang Xiang said he would condemn proven acts of violence committed “by any party” during the extradition bill unrest.
In the original statement issued on July 3, Zhang said he was “disheartened by the violence that occurred in the Legislative Council building and would like to condemn such destructive acts”.
It came two days after hundreds of mostly young protesters stormed the Legco complex, breaking glass doors, spraying slogans on the walls, covering Hong Kong’s official emblem with black paint, and tearing down portraits of the city’s political leaders. They left as riot police carried out a midnight clearance operation.
Protesters said they stormed Legco because the government ignored their demands, including the complete withdrawal of the extradition bill, which would have allowed Hong Kong to surrender fugitives to jurisdictions which Hong Kong lacks an extradition agreement with, including mainland China.
