Dozens of Hong Kong protesters make daring campus breakout
Hong Kong: Dozens of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters dramatically escaped a two-day police siege at a university campus late Monday by shimmying down ropes from a bridge to waiting motorbikes, after Beijing again warned it could intervene to end the crisis engulfing the city.
Clashes rumbled into the early hours of Tuesday between protesters and police who had threatened to use deadly force to dislodge activists holed up at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). The university siege has become a battle of wills between Hong Kong's stretched police force and the constantly innovating protest movement.
Late Monday, dozens of black-clad protesters on a footbridge slithered down ropes several metres to a road below, where they were whisked away on motorbikes.
In an apparently co-ordinated effort, tens of thousands of Hong Kongers streamed towards the PolyU campus to break the siege, as clashes simultaneously raged with police nearby in Kowloon. Several dozen people remained on the campus, one protester told AFP, although a number of minors were allowed to leave after negotiations with lawmakers.
A new phase of violence and drama began last week and has led to chaos throughout the semi-autonomous city of 7.5 million people, with schools closed, train lines disrupted and major roads blocked by barricades.
China has refused to budge on any of the protesters' demands, and warned it will not tolerate dissent in the financial centre.
A brief appearance by Chinese soldiers on Hong Kong's streets over the weekend -- supposedly to clean up debris -- fuelled concerns that Beijing could intervene militarily. China's ambassador to Britain upped the ante on Monday.
"The Hong Kong government is trying very hard to put the situation under control," Liu Xiaoming said. "But if the situation becomes uncontrollable, the central government would certainly not sit on our hands and watch. We have enough resolution and power to end the unrest."
Earlier, police made dozens of arrests as protesters made a dash for it -- sometimes beating people with batons as they held them on the ground, or kicking their heads.
"Other than coming out to surrender, I don't see any viable option for them," Cheuk Hau-yip, the police commander in Hong Kong's Kowloon West district, told a press conference, before the daring breakout.
The campus has been designated a 'riot' zone -- a charge of rioting carries up to 10 years in prison -- and Cheuk reiterated that police will use "live rounds" against protesters if faced with deadly weapons. Desperation deepened overnight inside the campus, where exhausted and scared mainly young protesters rationed the remaining food and bottled water.
"I will run but never surrender. I don't want to get arrested," said a protester who gave his name only as 'W'. "We are like rats in a trap."
Protests started in June as a peaceful condemnation of a now-shelved China extradition bill, but have morphed into a confrontational action to defend the city's unique freedoms from perceived encroachment by Beijing. Even by recent standards, the last few days have stood out as particularly violent, with one police officer hit in the leg by an arrow, and an armoured police vehicle torched.
Officers fired live rounds on Monday, though said they did not think anyone had been hit.
This was probably the most surreal thing I have ever witnessed in the Hong Kong protests. Protesters just attempted a daring escape through a bridge at Polytechnic University. Volunteers on motorbikes came in drives to drive them out asap. Police fired teargas. #HongKongProtests pic.twitter.com/huhSo3Mxo9
— Michael Zhang 張雨軒 (@YuxuanMichael) November 18, 2019
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SIR in Bengal: Bhabanipur records nearly 4 times more voter deletions than Nandigram, EC data shows
Kolkata (PTI): Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Bhabanipur constituency has recorded nearly four times more deletions from electoral rolls as against opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari’s Nandigram, according to constituency-wise data released by the Election Commission on Friday that highlighted significant variations across West Bengal.
According to a poll panel official, Bhabanipur (Kolkata), which had 1,61,509 voters in the rolls published in January 2025, saw 44,787 names removed in the latest revision, while Nandigram (Purba Medinipur district), with 2,78,212 voters, reported 10,599 deletions.
The commission has classified the deletions under standard categories such as deaths, relocation, and duplication of entries.
In the 2021 Assembly polls, Banerjee lost Nandigram to her one-time party colleague and protege Adhikari, who moved to the BJP just weeks before the election, by a margin of 1,956 votes.
Bhabanipur is not the constituency with the highest number of deletions, the official said.
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Kolkata Port, represented by senior minister and Mayor Firhad Hakim, has recorded 63,730 deletions, the highest in the state.
Tollygunge, held by minister Aroop Biswas, has seen 35,309 deletions, he added.
In constituencies held by key BJP legislators, the deletion numbers are higher than Nandigram but lower than Kolkata Port, he said.
"Asansol South, represented by Agnimitra Paul, has seen 39,202 deletions, while Shankar Ghosh's Siliguri constituency has reported 31,181 deletions," the official said.
According to district-wise data, South 24 Parganas has recorded the highest volume of deletions at 8,16,047.
Incidentally, the district is considered a stronghold of Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee, who secured a victory margin of over seven lakh votes in the last Lok Sabha election.
Among the state's 294 Assembly segments, the highest constituency-level deletions occurred in Chowringhee in North Kolkata, represented by Trinamool MLA Nayana Bandyopadhyay.
The constituency has seen 74,553 names removed. The lowest deletions were reported from Kotulpur in Bankura district, where 5,678 names have been removed.
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Overall, more than 58 lakh names have been deleted in the first phase of the SIR process. The Election Commission is scheduled to publish the draft electoral rolls on Tuesday.
