HONG KONG
More students have joined a hunger strike to press Hong Kong’s government to resume talks with democracy protesters, as the occupy movement appeared to be reaching a turning point after more than two months of road blockades and demonstrations.
Two peers have started fasting alongside Joshua Wong, the convener of student group Scholarism, and two others who have vowed to only drink water, public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong reported Thursday.
The head of the movement's medical team, Doctor Au Yiu-Kai, told the broadcaster the three students who started fasting Monday were suffering from low blood-sugar levels and some had vomited.
"Their pulse rate is a bit higher than 100 beats per minute. We advised them to take more water and more rest," Au said.
"Usually the crucial moment is the second or third day," he added, explaining that the metabolism of the protesters would start feeling better as their bodies adjusted to burning fat.
Wong’s blood sugar dropped to a concerning low level Thursday, prompting doctors to provide him a teaspoon of glucose, the South China Morning Post reported.
"I have to apologise because during this hunger strike, I'm only supposed to drink water," the 18-year-old said afterward.
Prince Wong Ji-yuet, 17, had also been given two pills by doctors after vomiting twice the day before.
Gloria Cheng Yik-lam, a 20-year-old politics and governance student who joined the hunger strike at the Admiralty protest site late Wednesday, said, “I believe without this push, the movement may be forced to end, so I have to join in.”
“Or else the past two months will be in vain having achieved nothing,” the Post quoted her as saying.
Meanwhile, Yvonne Leung of the other student group leading the protests -- the Hong Kong Federation of Students -- said a decision would be reached within a week on whether to continue the street occupations or call them to an end, the Ming Pao newspaper reported.
"In the short term, protesters cannot withstand the police violence, so a decision must be made," she said.
During a press conference, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying referred to the hunger strike as "pointless."
The Open University of Hong Kong, where Wong is a student, has called on the students to end their strike.
"The university urges all students who are still in the occupying sites to return to school as soon as possible, and continue their activities in a peaceful and legal manner," it said in a statement.
The protests started in late September after Beijing said 2017 election candidates for Hong Kong's top political office, the chief executive, must first be approved by a pro-Beijing committee.
Protesters say that amounts to “North Korean-style” fake democracy.
Demonstrators are blocking roads in two locations after their encampment in the district of Mong Kok was forcefully cleared by authorities last week.
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