Hong Kong protests: government under fire from across political spectrum for inaction as protesters take over campuses, close Cross-Harbour Tunnel, block roads and firebomb rail tracks
- In first public comments on trouble, President Xi Jinping says putting an end to violence and restoring order remains Hong Kong’s most urgent priority
- He describes continuing violence as challenge to the ‘one country, two systems’ governing principle
The beleaguered Hong Kong government came under mounting criticism from across the political spectrum on Thursday for its failure to bring normalcy back to a city that protesters held hostage for the fourth straight day with their spree of besieging and blocking roads.
The Cross-Harbour Tunnel was effectively defunct for an entire day as protesters built barricades from chairs, tables and boards they had commandeered from neighbouring Polytechnic University. At night, they again set tollbooths on fire and then, hiding behind their canopy of umbrellas, they unfurled a giant Chinese flag and set it alight.
At the University of Hong Kong, under the cover of night, protesters had cemented a low wall of bricks on one road. Up north, on Tolo Highway, next to Chinese University, protesters now control a bridge overlooking it, threatening to throw petrol bombs at any passing traffic.
Black-clad protesters are also guarding side roads they have barricaded with bamboo poles and improvised structures, making travel into the city for residents in New Territories towns especially difficult. Several drivers had petrol bombs flung at their cars when they tried to pass through the barriers on Thursday morning.
The violence also claimed another victim on Thursday. A 70-year-old cleaner reportedly hit on the head by a brick during a clash between protesters and residents in Sheung Shui on Wednesday died at 10.51pm on Thursday at the Prince of Wales Hospital.
A hospital source said the cleaner had been admitted to the neurosurgery high-dependency unit on Wednesday and had not regained consciousness since being injured.
At Chinese and Polytechnic universities, parts of the campuses have been taken over by black-clad protesters who spend their nights gathering objects for barricades, making petrol bombs and practising shooting arrows and throwing the fire bombs.
On Thursday, supporters and well-wishers flooded their collection points with cup noodles, clothes, gadgets and power banks, among other donations piling up. At several locations, at these two universities and at Baptist University in Kowloon Tong, protesters stood guard to inspect the identification and bags of those entering the campus facilities.
