Hong Kong leader urges peaceful resolution of campus standoff (updated)

MTR

19/11/2019 04:35

* HK leader Lam says told police to handle standoff humanely
    * China says Hong Kong courts have no power to rule on 
constitutionality of the city's legislation
    * About 100 protesters remain on campus
    * New police chief says fake news undermining his force 

 (Writes through)
    By Donny Kwok and Clare Jim
    HONG KONG, Nov 19 (Reuters) - 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 harbour tunnel and main roads, and forcing
the closure of businesses including shopping centres, 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.
    At one stage, dozens of mask-wearing protesters staged a
dramatic escape from the campus by shimmying down plastic hosing
from a bridge and fleeing on waiting motorbikes as police fired
projectiles.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N27X0BQ
    Police allowed two prominent figures onto the campus late on
Monday to mediate but many protesters refused to leave even
though food was running out.
    "There have been so many people who have sacrificed for
this," said a 21-year-old university student, who identified
himself as T, after escaping from the university on Tuesday.
   
    QUESTION OVER COURT
    Many protesters say they fear even more bloodshed with no
resolution in sight to a standoff that has seen some of the most
intense violence in what has become the worst crisis since Hong
Kong's return from British to Chinese rule in 1997.    
    Protesters were initially angered by a now-shelved bill that
could have sent people to mainland China for trial but has since
broadened into calls for full democracy and an end to what many
see meddling by Beijing in China's freest city.
    China says it is committed to the "one country, two systems"
formula introduced in 1997 granting Hong Kong autonomy and has
accused foreign countries, including Britain and the United
States, of inciting trouble.
    The city's police deny accusations of brutality and say they
have shown restraint.
    But the city's autonomy has been thrown into question after
China’s top legislature questioned the power of the city's High
Court to overturn a government emergency ban on face masks worn
by protesters.
    A spokesman for the legislative affairs commission of the
Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, said
Hong Kong courts had no power to rule on the constitutionality
of the city's legislation, the state Xinhua news agency
reported.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nB9N21300R
    
    'MASSIVE' BREAKING OF LAW
    Newly appointed Police Commissioner Chris Tang, meanwhile,
warned of an "institutional mismatch" that his 30,000-strong
force was having to contend with.
    "There is a massive scale of breaking of law in Hong Kong
and there is a certain sector of the community that also
condones that illegal activity," Tang said in a brief public
appearance.
    He also said "fake news" was undermining the reputation of
the force that had long been known as one of Asia's finest.
    The number of people demonstrating has fallen in recent
weeks but clashes have worsened since last week, when police
shot a protester, a man was set on fire and the city's financial
district was filled with tear gas in the middle of the workday.
    Police spokesmen said they fired three live rounds early on
Monday but no one was hurt.
    Protesters have torched buildings, infrastructure and shops.
    The city's Cross Harbour Tunnel linking Hong Kong island to
the Kowloon peninsula remained shut on Tuesday due to extensive
damage, authorities said.
    Some train services and many roads across Kowloon remained
closed. All schools were shut again on Tuesday, extending a
string of closures since last week due to safety concerns.
    The city's hospital authority reported 221 injuries over the
past day with 12 people in serious condition.
    The unrest poses the gravest popular challenge to Chinese
President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.
    In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told
reporters the United States was "gravely concerned" and said the
Hong Kong government bore primary responsibility for ensuring a
return to calm.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N27Y0WK

 (Reporting by Donny Kwok, Clare Jim, Greg Torode, Sharon Tam,
Jessie Pang, James Pomfret, Nick Macfie and David Lague; Writing
by Farah Master
Editing by Paul Tait, Robert Birsel)
 ((farah.master@thomsonreuters.com; +852 28431631 ;))