Some Hong Kong anti-government protesters trapped inside a Hong Kong university tried to flee through the sewers, where one student said she saw snakes, an escape route firemen ruled out on Wednesday by blocking the trap door into the system.
Reuters witnesses said fewer than 100 protesters remained inside the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, ring-fenced 24 hours a day by riot police and barricades, after more than 1 000 were arrested since late on Monday.
Some surrendered while others were grabbed in escape attempts that included trying to clamber down ropes to waiting motorbikes.
Some protesters, wearing waterproof boots and carrying torches, resurfaced inside the campus on Wednesday after unsuccessfully probing the sewers – where fast-rising water levels are also a hazard – for a way out during the night.
It was unclear if any had managed to escape that way.
Firefighters, who the students let onto the campus, were in place to stop any further such attempts to flee, blocking the only entrance into the sewer system.
“The sewer was very smelly, with many cockroaches, many snakes. Every step was very, very painful,” said Bowie, 23, a student at Hong Kong University who was forced to turn back.
“And the flow of water was strong. Hong Kong is a very developed city. I’d never thought that one day I would need to hide in a sewer or escape through sewers to survive. The most unforgettable feeling is the fear when I was inside.”
She said she and friend were in the dirty water for about an hour, only to find they were no closer to escape.
“When we reached the end, we found we were still in the poly,” she said.
Police searched for any escapees during the night with spotlights, without resorting to the tear gas and rubber bullets, that marked clashes in recent days.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has called for a humane end to a siege that saw the most intense clashes since the protests escalated more than five months ago.
They also tightened security in the streets around the university, making them safe enough for a late Tuesday visit by the force’s new commissioner, Chris Tang, at the end of his first day on the job.
Tang earlier urged the support of all citizens to end the unrest triggered by fears that Beijing is stifling the former British colony’s freedoms and extensive autonomy guaranteed inits handover to Chinese rule in 1997.
Tang is under pressure to restore police morale as well as public confidence in a force that has come in for wide spread criticism for increasingly violent tactics to suppress the protests. Police deny accusations of using excessive force.
The police quietly rolled out a new, harder-edged motto on Tang’s first day, replacing “We Serve with Pride and Care” with”Serving Hong Kong with Honour, Duty and Loyalty”.
Police have made more than 5 000 arrests in connection with the protests since June.
