New Delhi: Nearly a week after a 22-year-old Hong Kong protester was shot at by the police, violent protests continue in the city. Major clashes took place between the police and protesters at the Polytechnic University in Hong Kong over the weekend.
“Hundreds of masked radicals and police officers remain locked in a stand-off at a Hong Kong university following more than 24 hours of unprecedented clashes, which saw live rounds being fired at two locations,” notes a South China Morning Post (SCMP) report.
Meanwhile, after months of anticipation, Beijing sent its army troops to Hong Kong for the first time. These counterterrorism troops were dressed in basketball jerseys and are usually deployed in Tibet and Xinjiang.
What is happening at the Polytechnic University?
The weekend saw a violent stand-off between the police and protesters at the Polytechnic University. The police surrounded the university, making it impossible for the protesters to leave the campus.
Earlier, when the police had tried to enter the campus, the protesters hurled petrol bombs to stop them.
According to the acting president of the university’s student union, at least 500 protesters are locked inside the campus.
The police offered the protesters a chance to leave if they agreed to drop their weapons and take off their gas masks. The protesters, however, refused to accept the offer and said that they would be arrested if they leave. They argued that even if they are not arrested, removing their masks would allow the police to identify and pursue them later.
The Hong Kong government had initially banned the usage of gas masks by protesters but a judicial review by Hong Kong High Court found the ban to be unconstitutional.
Beijing finally sends the military to Hong Kong
The deployment of military troops in Hong Kong, comes after months of speculation regarding China’s response to the protests.
In August, the military had conducted riot drills along the Hong Kong border in the Chinese province of Shenzhen but it did not go beyond the drill.
The decision to deploy the military comes just days after Chinese President Xi Jinping provided a firm take on the Hong Kong crisis on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Brazil and said, “Stopping the violence and restoring order is Hong Kong’s most urgent task at present.”
According to SCMP, the troops deployed by Beijing belong to the elite counterterrorism section of the military.
“Part of the Western Theatre Command, which oversees a vast area in the west of China, including Xinjiang and Tibet, Xuefeng — according to earlier reports by the PLA Daily, the mouthpiece of China’s military — is one of the country’s leading counterterrorism brigades,” it noted.
These troops were deployed to conduct a cleanup operation and clear out the protesters from Kowloon, the mainland part of Hong Kong.
“As well as being a straightforward reminder of mainland China’s military presence – including elite counterterrorism forces – in the city, the act served as a show of support to the beleaguered pro-government camp and as a gentle warning to violent radicals,” military expert, Anthony Wong told SCMP.
(The report has been updated to reflect that a 22-year-old protester, who was shot at by Hong Kong Police, did not succumb to his injuries.)