Hong Kong schools open, students boycott classes

ANKARA

Hundreds of students in Hong Kong on Monday boycotted their classes in protest against the local government’s reluctance to withdraw the proposed amendments to extradition bill.

Today is the first day of classes at schools and universities following the end of two-month summer break.

"The school boycott, co-organized by localist party Demosisto, was part of a broader anti-government campaign triggered by the bill, which would have allowed the transfer of fugitives to jurisdictions with which Hong Kong lacks an extradition deal, including mainland China," South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong-based daily, reported.

However, an academic at a local college told Anadolu Agency that many of his students were attending the classes.

The autonomous region of Hong Kong is witnessing pro-longed protest demonstrations against the provincial government of Carrie Lam which had introduced a bill to legalize extradition to mainland China. The reading of the bill has been suspended.

"It is mainly high school students who are attending a protest rally today," said Chien-Yu Shih, a teacher at Hong Kong Chu Hai College.

More protests are expected for the day at Edinburgh Place while the protesters on Sunday surrounded the airport and engaged in clashes with police.

The report said that the alma mater of Lam and that of the embattled Hong Kong police chief were among the schools where students boycotted classes.

Students formed human chains to press-in their demands while distributing food to those who had reached the protest sites without breakfast.

"Youngsters did a successful protest to jam the only road to Hong Kong airport last [Sunday] evening, and they were exhausted," said a local Hong Kong resident.

MTR Corporation, which runs Metro Railway in Hong Kong, has claimed that alleged "continuous vandalism" by protestors affected 32 of its stations on Saturday and 12 of them on Sunday.

"Protesters damaged station control rooms, CCTV cameras, ticket issuing machines, add value machines and defaced the stations with graffiti," Hong Kong Free Press online newspaper quoted the company.

Police have used tear gas and water cannons to halt the protests.

The anti-extradition protests started in early June and have been going on for the last 85 days. The demonstrators have put forward five demands to the Lam government.

The demands include "full withdrawal of the extradition bill; an independent commission of inquiry into alleged police brutality; retracting classification of protesters as ‘rioters’; amnesty for arrested protesters, and dual universal suffrage both for Legislative Council and the Chief Executive."

A warning from China's state-run news agency

In a hard-hitting commentary on ongoing protests in Hong Kong, China's state-run Xinhua news agency said: "Faced with the central government's resolute support for the HKSAR [Hong Kong Special Administrative Region] government and the Hong Kong police, faced with the HKSAR government's firm and just law enforcement, faced with strong condemn from Chinese people, the end is coming for those attempting to disrupt Hong Kong and antagonize China".

"They should never misjudge the determination and ability of the central government, the HKSAR government and Chinese people to safeguard the nation's sovereignty, security and core interests," the news agency added.

Hong Kong is one of many autonomous regions which are under China's control since 1997. Beijing decides foreign and defense policies of the vibrant business hub.