Hong Kong in first recession for a decade amid protests - BBC News

Hong Kong has entered its first recession in a decade as the territory continues to be gripped by protests.

Its economy shrank 3.2% in the July-to-September period compared with the prior quarter, figures showed, confirming earlier preliminary data.

It means the economy has contracted for two quarters in a row, which is the usual definition of a recession.

Tourists are staying away and shops are suffering amid battles between anti-government protesters and police.

Compared with a year ago, Hong Kong's economy was 2.9% smaller in the third quarter of the year.

Hong Kong's protests started in June after the government planned to pass a bill that would allow suspects to be extradited to mainland China.

Many feared this bill would undermine the city's freedoms and judicial independence.

The bill was eventually withdrawn but the protests continued, having evolved into a broader revolt against the police, and the way Hong Kong is administered by Beijing.

Protests have taken place every weekend over the past few months, causing widespread disruption and a number of deaths.

On Thursday, a 70-year-old cleaner died after he was hit in the head during a protest in the Hong Kong border town of Sheung Shui.

Video purported to be of the incident shows two groups throwing bricks at each other before the man falls to the ground after being struck on the head.

Dramatic scenes such as these have kept tourists away. In August, arrivals to the city - a popular travel destination and transit hub - hit their worst level since the SARS crisis of 2003.

Some hotels have slashed prices as they struggle to fill their rooms.

On Thursday, two companies with major operations in Hong Kong revealed the financial impact of the protests.

Luxury fashion house Burberry said its sales in Hong Kong had fallen by more than 10% and would "remain under pressure".

Airline Cathay Pacific cut its profit guidance and said the civil unrest had "been exceptionally challenging, severely impacting demand and operations of the business".

Why the spike in anger?

This week has seen a marked escalation in violence with intense street battles, violent clashes at universities and lunchtime protests in the financial heart of Hong Kong.

It is the first time in weeks that protests have taken place during weekdays.

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Monday's protests followed a weekend of vigils and demonstrations after a 22-year-old student protester died last week.

Alex Chow had been in hospital since he fell from the ledge of a car park during a police operation a week ago.

Later on Monday, violence escalated further when a police officer shot an activist in the torso with a live bullet and a pro-government supporter was set on fire by protesters.

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2019-11-15 09:25:56Z
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Trump hikes price tag for US forces in Korea almost 500% as Seoul questions alliance - CNN

Trump is demanding that South Korea pay roughly 500% more in 2020 to cover the cost of keeping US troops on the peninsula, a congressional aide and an administration official confirmed to CNN.

The price hike has frustrated Pentagon officials and deeply concerned Republican and Democratic lawmakers, according to military officials and congressional aides. It has angered and unnerved Seoul, where leaders are questioning US commitment to their alliance and wondering whether Trump will pull US forces if they don't pay up.

"Nothing says I love you like a shakedown," said Vipin Narang, an associate professor at MIT who follows the Korean peninsula, summarizing South Korean uncertainty about the US.

Hard feelings

In the US, congressional aides and Korea experts familiar with the talks say the President's $4.7 billion demand came out of thin air, sending State and Defense Department officials scrambling to justify the number with a slew of new charges that may include Seoul paying some costs for US personnel present on the peninsula and for troops and equipment that rotate through.

Negotiations are underway as North Korea threatens to step up its weapons development, deepening Seoul's anxiety. On Thursday, Pyongyang condemned US-South Korean joint military exercises, saying it was "enraged" and threatening to respond with "force in kind."

North Korea has already launched 24 missiles this year, each a violation of UN resolutions, to match the country's previous annual record for firing off projectiles that threaten South Korea and Japan, according to Bruce Klingner, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

Germany, France and the United Kingdom recently condemned Pyongyang for the launches, saying they undermined regional security and stability. Meanwhile, South Korean leaders are acutely aware that Trump has downplayed the launches, saying he is "not at all" troubled by them.

"There are a lot of hard feelings," Klingner said of South Korean views of the US right now, adding that "people are questioning the viability of the US as an ally."

That's being driven in part by US acquiescence to North Korea's missile launches, which "is raising angst... about whether the US is a reliable ally," Klingner said. "The exorbitant push to further increase the US demand for the cost of stationing US forces overseas is adding to that."

Scott Snyder, director of the US-Korea policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the extreme nature of the price hike is creating "worry that Trump is doing this as a pretext for withdrawal" of US troops.

"The main side effect that I see is that it raises questions about the credibility of the United States as a protector, as an alliance partner," Snyder said. "And that's not good for the relationship."

The administration official said the argument is that the US does many things to ensure South Korean security that haven't been accurately accounted for, for decades. "It was one thing when Korea was recovering from the war, but now they're one of the world's leading economies," the official said.

"The Koreans have said themselves they ultimately want to take over the security of Korea and stand as a peer in the security sphere," the official said. Now, "they need to make some fundamental investments to get where they say they want to be, so this is an opportunity for them."

Shared responsibility

A spokesperson for the State Department, which has the lead on negotiations, said that "sustaining the costs of our global military presence is not a burden that should fall on the US taxpayer alone, but is a responsibility that should be shared fairly with allies and partners who benefit from our presence."

The Korean embassy did not return requests for comment.

The US-South Korea cost sharing agreement has been in place for decades and, until Trump, was renegotiated every five years. During the 2016 campaign, candidate Trump declared that he would pull US troops from the peninsula if he didn't get 100% compensation for their presence.

Last year, when the Special Measures Agreement came up for negotiation, Trump asked for a 50% increase from Seoul. Ultimately, the two sides agreed South Korea would pay 8% over the prior year's cost, but that the agreement would be renegotiated yearly.

This year, Trump raised the asking price from approximately $1 billion to $5 billion before being convinced by officials at the State Department and Pentagon to winnow that down to $4.7 billion, according to a congressional aide and the administration official.

Esper, like other administration officials, has refused to confirm that figure publicly, saying Wednesday only that "we have asked for a significant increase in the cost-sharing for our deployed troops."

'A backwards process'

Klingner is one of several Korea experts who suggest that Trump pulled the figure out of thin air. Officials at the relevant agencies and aides in Congress who follow Asia are similarly perplexed. "I have no idea where the President pulled this number from," said the congressional aide.

"It seems pretty clear ... that State and DOD were working to figure out how to justify the $5 billion figure... it's not like, 'We were developing a new concept that includes the following 17 categories and this is what it comes to.' It was a backwards process," said the aide characterized the reaction to be one of shock, " 'the President wants $5 billion and how do we justify that to the Koreans?' They were throwing everything in there that allowed them to argue with a straight face that this covers the burden-sharing costs of the alliance."

To justify the price tag, officials at State and the Pentagon expanded the costs Seoul would cover "from basing, sewage, the usual things, to include 'readiness,'" the aide said. Administration officials would not confirm that.

But it could mean charging Seoul for joint military exercises, including rotational forces that aren't always present on the peninsula. "So if we had bombers stop by the peninsula as a show of force, I guess like an Uber driver, we would bill them for the trip," the aide said.

The US may also ask South Korea to pay for "a whole range of personnel costs for US personnel stationed on Peninsula," the aide said. In response, the aide said, the Koreans are asking, " 'Are you guys mercenaries now? Is this a business arrangement?' "

Military officials have told CNN they are distressed about the request and that they have been concerned the President's foreign policy decision making could increasingly be shaped by his concerns about the 2020 election campaign or impeachment pressure.

The congressional aide said Pentagon officials are expressing their discomfort on Capitol Hill as well. "The career professionals and career military: they're beside themselves," the aide said, "but [Trump is] the commander in chief, so they're in a box."

"The Koreans are outraged," the aide continued, particularly because elections are coming in April and they don't think the cost increase is defensible in their National Assembly.

Council on Foreign Relations expert Snyder said that historically, the formula for cost sharing has seen increases of 5% to 10%, but "the gap between 5% and almost 500%... stretches the bounds of political plausibility."

A particular hurdle, Snyder said, is any request that Seoul pay for assets "that may be used in the event of a conflict, but that aren't actually based in Korea. That's the most sensitive question if you're talking about the Korean taxpayer."

'A lot of concern'

Sen. Edward Markey, the leading Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Asia said that he was "troubled by President Trump's demand. ... If South Korea decides that it is better off without the United States, President Trump will have undermined an over 60-year shared commitment to peace, stability, and rule of law. The region is less safe when countries lose confidence in America's ability to lead."

Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Asia, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Neither did the second ranking Republican on the subcommittee, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, or the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. James Risch of Idaho.

Behind closed doors though, the congressional aide echoed another colleague on Capitol Hill, saying that "there's a lot of concern up here with both Democratic and Republican staff. People ... are not happy. They think this is really dangerous."

CNN's Barbara Starr contributed to this report

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2019-11-15 08:20:00Z
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Behind the barricade, Hong Kong protesters turn a university into a fortress - Washington Post

Tyrone Siu Reuters Anti-government protesters at the Chinese University of Hong Kong on Thursday.

HONG KONG — Behind a barricade made of bamboo scaffolding, desks and umbrellas, Damon naps in a truck tire next to a baseball bat.

At midday Thursday, the junk offers a bit of shade. The 17-year-old high school student — dressed in black and wearing knee pads — has barely slept since he moved onto the Chinese University campus. The tire leans against a car door, and he’s not sure where either came from.

“I don’t know, maybe that truck,” he says, gesturing to the scorched, toppled vehicle a short distance away.

Some of the city’s working men and women are using their spending power to help front-line protesters confront police during the demonstrations in Hong Kong.

Two nights ago, the truck ignited when police besieged a bridge leading to the university, among Hong Kong’s most prestigious colleges, provoking one of the fiercest clashes of the pro-democracy uprising.

For nearly six months, protesters have taken to the streets of the semiautonomous financial hub demanding more democracy and less Chinese encroachment. The movement assumed new urgency Tuesday night when police pummeled students with tear gas and rubber bullets, turning the Chinese University campus into a conflict zone as students fought back with gasoline bombs and bricks.

[As unrest paralyzes Hong Kong, college students from elsewhere begin to evacuate]

Since then, the campus has been usurped by students and volunteers, transforming it into a fortress. The bridge, which reeks of petroleum and burned rubber, has become an arsenal, equipped with a makeshift catapult, javelins, bows and arrows, molotov cocktails. There are shopping carts stacked with bricks, and boogie boards for use as shields.

“They can deal with tear gas and rubber bullets,” says Jonathan, a 29-year-old alumnus and finance worker who, like Damon, gave only one name for fear of retribution. “We don’t have anything for real guns.”

Tyrone Siu

Reuters

An anti-government protester holds a bow and arrow during a standoff with riot police at the Chinese University.

Police have described the university — in Hong Kong’s northern reaches, about 14 miles from the central business district — as a weapons factory. As protesters mill about the 340-acre campus, a day after classes were suspended, the atmosphere feels volatile. Exchange students preparing to leave the city drag suitcases down the barricaded access road.

When sirens sound, everyone goes silent and looks for the source.

“Police?” exclaims Jonathan, when he mishears a conversation about a nearby protest. “No, no, Poly University,” comes a comrade’s reply, referring to another campus where police fired tear gas at students on Thursday. “Oh, okay.”

https://twitter.com/caseyquack/status/1194921200364843008?s=20">

Between shifts hauling supplies to lecture halls and hammering bricks, hundreds hang around the graffiti-covered campus-turned-commune — napping wherever they can, checking their phones, enjoying the respite. But as the hours tick by, there’s a sense that things could flare again at any moment.

Hong Kong’s government, urged on by Chinese leaders, has intensified a clampdown on demonstrators who have responded to each uptick of force with a reciprocal escalation. Unrest increased sharply this week after the police shooting of a protester and the death of another who fell from a parking garage as police dispersed crowds nearby. On Thursday, Hong Kong’s government suspended all school classes through Sunday and said it would recruit correctional officers to reinforce police ranks.

Police fired shots at protesters in the eastern district of Sai Wan Ho on Nov. 11 and critically injured a 21-year-old protester who appeared to be unarmed.

The police raid at Chinese University has been a clarion call for other colleges to erect barricades. Protests flared Thursday at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and in the city’s downtown area.

[‘We are in a war’: In Hong Kong, an accountant by day becomes street fighter by night]

The campus clashes have reinforced a growing sense that the next phase of the struggle would be centered on the city’s classrooms.

This week, China’s cabinet published an education policy document outlining revisions to promote loyalty to Beijing. The issue of patriotic education has been divisive in Hong Kong; parents and students took to the streets in 2012 to force the withdrawal of a proposal to introduce Chinese textbooks that appeared to criticize democracy and applaud the “China model” of one-party rule.

Thomas Peter

Reuters

A protester at the occupied campus of the Chinese University in Hong Kong.

The document released by China’s cabinet did not give details but said a new, nationwide curriculum would “consolidate the common ideological and political foundation,” boost support for the socialist system and the Communist Party of China, and “guide” residents of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, as well as overseas Chinese, “to enhance their national identity and consciously safeguard national and ethnic unity.”

On Chinese social media, commentators appeared to express shock at the depth of antipathy toward the mainland among Hong Kong youth.

In a widely circulated post, Lu Kewen, a popular columnist, blamed Hong Kong’s Western-style education system for making “Hong Kongers under 30 fully stand with the ideology of the Western world,” adding that “they are disgusted by everything about the mainland.”

[A Hong Kong campus becomes a combat zone, fueling doubts about elections]

On Thursday, the Nanchang Aviation University in southern China announced it would “severely handle” the case of a professor who expressed sympathy for Hong Kong protesters in a private messaging group.

At the Chinese University, protesters have maximized every resource to make the campus a perfect citadel. The first-aid team took over the gymnasium: Nurses and volunteers man tables of creams and bandages while others sleep on the floor under space blankets. A whiteboard keeps track of the injuries — calf wound, eye injury, ankle sprain — who’s on duty, and emergency numbers.

Anthony Kwan

Getty Images

Protesters sleep in tents and sleeping bags at a sports ground at the Chinese University of Hong Kong on Thursday.

The racetrack is the most popular sleeping quarters, although some protesters erect tents on the inner field. Strewn around are protective items, flip-flops and slippers. Some use winter coats as blankets and sleep under umbrellas. A lecture hall operates as a supply center, where piles of donations are at their disposal: clothes, blankets, battery packs, protective gear. A makeshift store offers candy, cup noodles and more.

Rare weekday fighting in Hong Kong carried into Tuesday night as authorities admitted that the city is on the verge of collapse.

China has pressed Hong Kong officials to end the protests. The state-controlled Global Times tweeted Thursday that Hong Kong officials would soon impose a curfew, before quickly deleting the message, saying the sourcing did not meet the nationalist tabloid’s standards.

Hong Kong’s government later said in a statement that rumors of a curfew were “totally unfounded.”

Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s students are bracing for another possible attack. Some here talk of “June 4” — a reference to the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, when China’s ruling Communist Party gunned down hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing.

“We can see the Chinese government and the Hong Kong police are trying to invade our school campus, our liberty, our future,” Damon said.

Justin Chin

Bloomberg

A makeshift brick wall forms a barricade on Pokfulam Road outside the University of Hong Kong on Thursday.

Shih reported from Beijing. Tiffany Liang contributed to this report.

Read more

As unrest paralyzes Hong Kong, college students from elsewhere begin to evacuate

‘We are in a war’: In Hong Kong, an accountant by day becomes street fighter by night

A Hong Kong campus becomes a combat zone, fueling doubts over elections

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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2019-11-14 11:25:00Z
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Dominican Republic teacher dies: Officials say American Patricia Anton was found dead in her home after apparent robbery - CBS News

Last Updated Nov 14, 2019 7:47 AM EST

An American teacher's death in the Dominican Republic was being investigated Thursday as a murder. Police said they found Patricia Anton deceased in her apartment in Puerto Plata, on the country's northern coast, with her hands and feet bound.

Officials have said the 63-year-old was strangled.

CBS News correspondent Jericka Duncan said police have not yet indicated the identification of any potential suspects in the case, but they've revealed that Anton's death may have been part of a burglary.

Investigators said multiple items were missing from her apartment, including a cellphone, laptop, television, sheets and a pair of sports shoes.

Anton, from Michigan, dedicated her life to helping children. She had lived in the Dominican Republic for the last five years, where she worked as a consultant at an elementary school.

The school's website said she had more than 20 years of teaching experience and was previously a legislative aide at the Michigan state capitol.

It is with much sadness and an extremely heavy heart that we send this message out tonight. Patty Anton, our Montessori...

Posted by 3 Mariposas Montessori on Wednesday, November 13, 2019

On their Facebook page, school administrators at the 3 Mariposas Montessori school said Anton would "light up a room upon entering it and be sure to make everyone smile and laugh with her wonderful sense of humor."

"She shared our belief that peace in the world can only come from getting close to and understanding people who are different from ourselves," the school said. "That is why she gave her heart and soul to our school." 

Anton is one of at least 11 Americans who have died in the Dominican Republic this year. The rest have been tourists, and the reasons range from natural causes to deaths possibly linked to tainted alcohol.

Anton's body was to be taken to a lab in the country for further testing. Police have urged anyone with knowledge of the crime to come forward.

The U.S. State Department did not offer any immediate comment on the American's death.

© 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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2019-11-14 11:15:00Z
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Gaza militants fire 5 rockets at Israel hours after cease-fire declared - Fox News

Five rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip toward Israel just hours after a cease-fire was declared between Israel and Gaza’s militant Islamic Jihad group early Thursday morning, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson confirmed.

CEASE-FIRE REACHED WITH ISRAEL TO END GAZA FIGHTING, ISLAMIC JIHAD SAYS

An explosion caused by Israeli airstrikes is seen in Gaza City, early Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Two of the rockets were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome aerial defense system.

The cease-fire was meant to halt a 48-hour surge in cross-border fighting sparked by the assassination of top Islamic Jihad leader Baha Abu al-Ata along with his wife.

The IDF said Wednesday it was “raining rockets” across the country, with Gaza militants firing one projectile every seven minutes since Baha Abu al-Ata was killed by the Israeli military in a targeted airstrike Tuesday morning.

"Baha Abu Al Ata was the senior commander of Islamic Jihad in Gaza, responsible for most attacks emanating from Gaza over the last year," IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi said Tuesday. "He was a ticking time-bomb ... there was a window of opportunity that we utilized precisely."

The Islamic Jihad leader was also actively planning new attacks against Israel, an IDF spokesperson said.

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At least 34 Palestinians, including three women and eight children have been killed in the two-day barrage.

Fox News' Talia Kaplan and the Associated Press contributed to this report

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2019-11-14 11:08:33Z
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Fragile ceasefire holds in Gaza amid reports of fire exchange - Al Jazeera English

A ceasefire between Islamic Jihad and Israel has largely held in the Gaza Strip since Thursday morning, amid reports of cross-border fire exchange.

The agreement reportedly brokered by Egypt came into effect after two days of cross-border fighting and Israeli air attacks killed at least 34 Palestinians, including eight members of the same family.

Gaza health ministry on Thursday identified them as members of the Abu Malhous family from Deir al-Balah area.

At least 63 Israelis received treatment for injuries from rocket attacks launched from Gaza.

Al Jazeera's Harry Fawcett, reporting from near the Gaza fence, said there seems to be a "real fragility" to the ceasefire, which came into force at 5:30am local time (03:30 GMT), according to the Islamic Jihad group spokesman Musab al-Braim.

"We heard from our colleagues in Gaza, that more rockets have been fired out of Gaza, and around the same time, we heard here what sounded like outgoing Israeli artillery," Fawcett said, without being able to confirm. 

"The ceasefire that had been holding for about four or five hours appears to be less firm," he noted. "This is what the UN envoy to the region … was warning of. He said the coming hours and days would be crucial in trying to avert a wider war."

The latest violence escalated after Israel killed top Islamic Jihad commander Bahaa Abu al-Ata in an air raid on Tuesday, deeming him an imminent threat.

Fawcett said that the terms of the ceasefire agreement are a "little bit different, depending on who you listen to".

Al-Braim told Al Jazeera that his group had secured concessions from Israel.

"The deal included the occupation's submission to conditions, which is to stop the assassinations, particularly of the protesters in the March of Return demonstrations, and to begin practically the procedures to break the siege," he said.

According to an Islamic Jihad official, the agreement stipulates that Palestinian factions must ensure a return to calm in Gaza and "maintain peace" during demonstrations, while Israel must stop hostilities and "ensure a ceasefire" during demonstrations by Palestinians.

A top Egyptian official told the AFP news agency that his country had undertaken efforts to end the two days of fighting that saw Israel bombing dozens of houses and farms in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

'Situation remains tense'

Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a Twitter post that the two-day round of fighting in Gaza "is over", confirming the ceasefire. 

Despite the ceasefire announcement, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Israel would follow suit only if Palestinian factions in Gaza stop attacks - denying that Israel had changed open-fire policy as demanded by the Islamic Jihad group for the truce.

"Quiet will be answered with quiet," Katz said on Thursday in remarks made to local media.

"The State of Israel will not hesitate to strike at those who try to harm it, from the Gaza Strip or from anywhere else."

Al Jazeera's Fawcett said that while Islamic Jihad said it had secured from Israel an undertaking not to carry on with targeted assassinations and not to use live fire at the border protests on Fridays, an Israeli official has been quoted in local media as saying that is not the case with regards to the protests.

"Israel doesn't usually acknowledge ceasefires with groups such as Hamas and the Islamic Jihad ... However, it does show that the situation remains tense," he added.

The Gaza Strip has been under a joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade for more than a decade, which has severely curtailed freedom of movement for the population of two million. The flow of goods and services, as well as medical supplies, is also severely hampered due to the crippling siege.

Palestinians have been gathering near the perimeter fence to participate in the Great March of Return, a series of weekly protests that began in March 2018, calling for an end to the 12-year-old land and air siege.

Since the Gaza rallies began, 313 Palestinian protesters have been killed by Israeli fire and thousands more wounded, according to the health ministry. Eight Israelis have been killed over the same period.

Death of Islamic Jihad commander

Following the Israeli attack on Tuesday that killed Islamic Jihad commander Bahaa Abu al-Ata in Gaza, the two sides had been exchanging fire, with Israel's military saying it recorded more than 350 incoming rockets.

Israel said Abu al-Ata was responsible for rocket fire as well as other attacks and was planning more violence, with the military calling him a "ticking bomb".

In Israel, air raid sirens wailed and fireballs exploded as air defence missiles intercepted rockets, sending Israelis rushing to bomb shelters.

In Gaza, residents surveyed the damage and mourned their dead.

United Nations envoy Nickolay Mladenov arrived in Cairo on Wednesday afternoon, airport officials said, following reports he was to hold talks aimed at halting the fighting.

The UN and Egypt have been instrumental in mediating previous ceasefires between Israel and Gaza-based armed groups.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Islamic Jihad must stop its rocket attacks or "absorb more and more blows".

An Islamic Jihad spokesman had said the group was not interested in mediation as it retaliated over the killing of one of its commanders.

The flare-up raised fears of a new all-out conflict between Israel and Palestinian factions in Gaza, which has seen three major Israeli military operations in the past decade.

Gaza health ministry said the death toll in two days of Israeli air raids had risen to 34 [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu]

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2019-11-14 10:24:00Z
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Student protesters fortify campus occupations as Hong Kong braces for more violence - CNN

The level of unrest and destruction in the almost six-month-long protest movement has reached new and unnerving heights in recent days, with several people critically injured and Chinese state media warning radical protesters, "You are on the edge of doom."

Sporadic clashes broke out Thursday morning, as police fired tear gas at protesters near the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Kowloon. While on Hong Kong Island, roads surrounding the University of Hong Kong were blocked by protesters, resulting in traffic delays.

Universities have emerged as a new focal point of the protest movement, with numerous campuses across the city becoming home to heavily fortified temporary protest camps.

At the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in the New Territories, several thousand protesters have effectively barricaded themselves inside the grounds, blocking all entrances for the third straight day.

The CUHK campus was on Tuesday the scene of some of the most intense fighting in the city since demonstrations began in June, with hundreds of riot police firing more than 1,567 canisters of tear gas during a chaotic and ultimately aborted clearance operation.

Throughout Wednesday and Thursday, protesters and those helping them continued to pour into the sprawling grounds by road and by foot, bringing supplies, including protective gear, food and water.

A highly organized operation was launched inside the campus, sorting and distributing the supplies, building and reinforcing barricades, and stockpiling weapons, including petrol bombs, bows and arrows, javelins, and pieces of wood hammered with nails.

So far police have appeared reticent to return to the university despite a Hong Kong court rejecting an application by students to block police from entering the campus without a warrant.

Many overseas students studying at the university have been asked to leave by their home colleges and CUHK administrators announced the early cancellation of classes, stopping the fall semester around two weeks early. On Wednesday, police said they had evacuated several students from mainland China via police boat, because the roads were blocked by protesters.

The effects of the campus unrest could be felt across the city Thursday, with continued travel disruptions and protesters, including large numbers of office workers on their lunch break, taking over the busy streets in Central district for a fourth straight day. Office workers also came out in support of the student protesters in Tai Koo, in the east of the city.

Two of the three tunnels connecting Hong Kong Island with the Kowloon peninsula, including the busiest Cross-Harbour Tunnel, were closed to traffic Thursday morning and the MTR continued to suspend service at several stations.

All schools have suspended classes for the rest of the week -- the first such instance since protests began.

Critical injuries

The protests this week have taken a dark turn, with more people critically injured than at any point in the long-running movement.

Hong Kong's Hospital Authority said 67 people were treated in hospitals in total on Wednesday with injuries related to the protests.

On Wednesday, a 70-year-old man was hospitalized and remains in critical condition after being hit on the head by a brick thrown by a protester, police said.

The injured man was on a lunch break from his job as a cleaner when he voluntarily began clearing bricks from the road with other members of the public, according to police. Video of the alleged incident shows protesters and government supporters hurling bricks at one another before a man falls to the ground.

A 15-year-old boy was struck in the head by what is believed to be a tear gas canister and is also in critical condition, according to Hong Kong's Hospital Authority.

Earlier in the week, a protester was shot by police and a man was set on fire following a dispute with protesters Monday.

'You are on the edge of doom'

The major escalation in political unrest this week has once again raised questions over what will happen next. Looming over those conversations is the specter of a possible Chinese intervention.

On Thursday, China's top state-run television channel issued an online editorial telling protesters their actions are "undisguised terrorism."

"We have had enough talking, persuasion and warnings. To stop the unrest has to be implemented and advanced more resolutely now. The country will never accept the situation to be out of control, justice to be covered or Hong Kong to be sunk," the editorial from CCTV read.

It echoed an editorial in the state-run tabloid Global Times suggesting the People's Armed Police and the People's Liberation Army were ready to back up Hong Kong's government "when necessary."

"We also warn the radical protesters: You are on the edge of doom. Those who are coerced to be 'valiant' should walk away as soon as possible when you still can make the call," the editorial said.

However, it is not clear if Beijing has a red line, and what it would take for protesters to cross it before provoking a Chinese military response.

Analysts say it is still a question that Beijing is actively considering.

"It's smart not to state a clear red line because you are going to have to act on it to keep your credibility once that line has been breached. And there is every likelihood that protesters would actively seek to breach that line," Adam Ni, a China researcher at Macquarie University in Sydney told CNN last month.

The Chinese government has hinted that it might be looking at new ways of resolving the crisis in Hong Kong, both short-term and long-term.

After a meeting of a top Chinese Communist Party body in October, senior Chinese official Shen Chunyao said that Beijing would work to improve the legal system and strengthen "law enforcement" in Hong Kong, and neighboring Macao.

He added it was time to introduce new lessons in "patriotism" across Hong Kong, a move which has been discussed by the Chinese government for a long time.

On Tuesday, the Chinese government unveiled a new range of patriotic education measures for the country, which according to state-run Xinhua would "focus on young Chinese."

"Patriotism should be embedded in the whole process of school education," the article said.

Buried in point 20 of the new patriotic education outline is a call to "guide" the citizens of Hong Kong and Macao to "enhance their national identity and consciously safeguard national unity."

CNN's James Griffiths, Sandi Sidhu, Julia Hollingsworth, Isaac Yee, Joshua Berlinger and Chermaine Lee contributed reporting.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/14/asia/hong-kong-protests-universities-violence-intl-hnk/index.html

2019-11-14 10:27:00Z
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