Hong Kong’s Embattled Leader Hoped a Standoff Between Police and a Hold-Out Group of Anti-Government Protesters at a University

Hong Kong’s embattled leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday she hoped a standoff between police and a hold-out group of anti-government protesters at a university could be resolved and she had told police to handle it in a humane way.

A last group of about 100 defiant protesters remain in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University after more than two days of clashes with police surrounding it in which more than 200 people have been injured.

Lam spoke at a news conference shortly after the city’s new police chief urged the support of all citizens to end five months of unrest, triggered by fears that the Beijing government is stifling the city’s special autonomy and freedoms.

Lam said her government was very much on the “reactive side” but did not rule out further violence even as she urged peace.

“If the protesters are coming out in a peaceful manner ... then there is no situation when that sort of violence would happen,” she said.

But if the situation changed, police would have to take “necessary action”, she said, adding she had been shocked that campuses had been turned into “weapons factories”.

Lam said 600 protesters had left the campus, including 200 below the age of 18.

The university is the last of five that protesters occupied to use as bases from which to disrupt the city, blocking the city’s central cross harbor tunnel and main roads, and forcing the closure of businesses including shopping centers, in order, they said, to put the government under economic pressure.

Hundreds of protesters fled from the university or surrendered overnight amid running battles on surrounding streets as police fired tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets and protesters lobbed petrol bombs and bricks.

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