Traffic disruptions, protests continue in HK

Hong Kong protesters disrupted traffic and blocked roads on Wednesday morning after the government allowed the resumption of classes in primary and secondary schools.

The Education Bureau announced on Tuesday that primary and secondary schools would resume their classes on Wednesday. Classes have been suspended for four weekdays since November 14.

At 7am, hundreds of masked students and protesters blocked the junction of Hip Wo Street and Tsui Ping Road with metal and plastic barricades, RTHK reported.

Protesters demanded an independent investigation into police brutality and the implementation of genuine universal suffrage.

Some local residents blamed the protesters for obstructing people who were trying to go to work. Other residents helped calm the situation until police arrived at 8am to disperse the crowd.

Masked people also disrupted MTR services by stopping the train doors from closing. Disruptions were reported in Tin Shui Wai, Kwun Tong, Yau Tong, Yuen Long and Quarry Bay.

In Fan Ling, a bicycle was hanging on a power cable while some debris was thrown onto the rail line. Train service was disrupted with some people queuing up in Fan Ling station. Some quarreled until police arrived to take control of the situation.

The MTR Corp closed a dozen stations on the East Rail Line, West Rail Line and slowed train services on the Kwun Tong Line and Tseung Kwan O Line.

Police were slammed by parent groups for intercepting students in MTR stations.

The Hung Hom Cross-Harbour Tunnel remained closed as police continued to surround the nearby Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU).

The Transport Department took some measures to direct traffic to the Eastern and Western Harbour Crossing and changed the routes for some buses.

Clashes between protesters and police happened on the two footbridges near PolyU on Sunday afternoon. After protesters retreated into the campus, police surrounded it and announced it was a crime site. Police said whoever walked out from the campus would face rioting charges.

On Monday evening, tens of thousands of masked protesters gathered in Mong Kok, Yau Ma Tai and Tsim Sha Tsui, urging the police to release the students and protesters inside PolyU.

Read: Hong Kong Poly U siege ‘a humanitarian crisis’

Serious clashes were seen in the district until some pro-establishment politicians intervened to help take away 600 people from the campus. Police arrested the adults who walked out from the campus and will follow up the cases related to 200 underage people.

Another 200 were said to have sneaked out from the campus.

On Tuesday evening, most debris on the key roads in the Tsim Sha Tsui district had been removed.

At 4:30pm on Tuesday, a group of axe-wielding men appeared on Nathan Road in Mong Kok, trying to stop a crowd from gathering. These men did not wear any masks.

Four masked men in black entered the printing company of The Epoch Times, a newspaper associated with the Falun Gong spiritual movement, and set fire to papers and equipment. Epoch Times staff suspected the attackers were sent by the Communist Party of China. It said similar attacks had happened in the same factory in 2006 and 2012.

At 7pm on Tuesday, Albert Ho Chun-yan, former chairman of the Democratic Party, was attacked by two masked men with sticks outside the Tin Hau MTR station. He suffered injuries to his back and a fractured bone in his right arm. He went to Ruttonjee Hospital by himself and left the hospital at 10pm. He said the attackers were accompanied by a masked woman.

Ho added that he would not give in to any violent forces. The attacks against Ho and The Epoch Times happened on the same day that Chris Tang Ping-keung was appointed by Beijing to become the new Police Commissioner n Hong Kong.

Read: Only hard core left in besieged HK PolyU campus