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Hong Kong police warned protesters yesterday that they were moving “one step closer to terrorism” by sinking the city into chaos, as riot squads skirmished with militant students at major universities.
China’s leader said ending the violence and restoring order are Hong Kong’s most pressing task, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. President Xi Jinping, who is attending the BRICS summit in Brazil, said his government would continue to firmly support Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, the police and the courts in “severely punishing the violent criminals.”
Police spokesman Tse Chun-chung denied his department had been asked to enforce a possible curfew this weekend. A Chinese state media outlet later deleted its tweet saying authorities were considering a weekend curfew.
The Hong Kong government, in a short statement, also called the curfew rumors “totally unfounded.” “The force is certainly capable and determined to control Hong Kong’s social unrest at the moment,” Tse said. “We welcome any new measures that can help us to achieve the goal of restoring the public safety and order in Hong Kong.”
In unusually harsh language, Tse said students were turning university campuses into “weapons factories” and a “hotbed” of crime. “Their acts are another step closer to terrorism,” Tse said, warning of a major disaster if gasoline bombs stored on campuses were to catch fire.
He said violence that broke out this week at Chinese University of Hong Kong is spreading to other campuses “like a cancer cell,” mentioning specifically Hong Kong University and Baptist University.
“It’s time to wake up. No society can tolerate this much senseless violence,” he said.
With no end to the protests in sight, the beleaguered police force is appointing a group of prison guards as special constables. Up to 100 officers from the Correctional Services Department who are already familiar with anti-riot equipment will be given additional training and deployed mainly to guard government premises.
“The ongoing riots over the past few months, with their massive scale, simultaneous occurrence in various districts and grave severity of violence, make it necessary to strengthen the support for the police’s front-line officers,” a statement from the police spokesman’s office said.
Residents endured a fourth day of traffic snarls and mass transit disruptions as protesters closed some main roads and rail networks.
