Hong Kong students are banned from staging rallies, singing protest songs or forming human chains in school after the city’s campuses turned into war zones
- Education Bureau has laid down rules for students in government-run schools
- Youngsters are also prohibited from boycotting classes or shouting slogans
- Those who give out political flyers on campus will face school punishment too
- Policy was announced after police laid siege to a university to arrest protesters
- Around 2,000 students have been arrested in the unrest since it began in June
Hong Kong authorities have prohibited students in all government-run schools from holding or attending demonstrations on campus after the city’s campuses turned into war zones due to escalating clashes between protesters and police.
Youngsters have also been banned from boycotting classes, singing protest songs, shouting slogans, forming human chains or handing out political leaflets, according to a letter issued by the city’s Education Bureau to parents yesterday.
Offenders will be punished by their schools, the letter said.
Hong Kong authorities yesterday laid down rules for students in government-run schools after the city’s campuses turned into war zones due to clashes. Pictured, protesters use a catapult to fire bricks at the police from inside the Hong Kong Polytechnic University on Sunday
Riot police detain protesters amid clouds of tear gas at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University
The letter was signed off by Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, who urged students not to destroy social order, including blocking trains, cars and roads.
Students are also warned against joining anti-government rallies or using offensive language outside their schools while wearing their uniforms.
‘I urge students to cherish themselves, take care of others, and [I] request that parents advise their sons and daughters against attending dangerous or illegal activities to avoid impact on their whole life,’ Mr Yeung said in the letter.
Hong Kong has been rocked by anti-government protests for more than five months.
The movement was ignited in June when millions took to streets in opposition to a now-abandoned attempt to allow extraditions from Hong Kong to the mainland.
More than 5,000 people have been arrested so far in connection to the unrest. Among them, nearly 40 per cent are students.
Students have been banned from forming human chains on campus. Pictured, a group of girls link hands outside St. Paul’s Co-Educational College in Hong Kong on September 9
Youngsters will face punishment if they hold or attend any protesters in their schools. They have been banned from boycotting classes too. Pictured, thousands of students gather during a strike on the first day of school at the Chinese University in Hong Kong on September 2
A 12-year-old boy yesterday became the youngest person to be convicted in the protest for spray-painting slogans, including ‘damn rogue cops’ and ‘divine annihilation, free HK’, on a police station and train station.
An anonymous headmaster of a government-run school told local newspaper Sing Tao Daily: ‘There are indeed students from government-run schools who boycotted classes, [formed] human chains and attended off-campus rallies. Schools have guidance and discipline to deal with [the situation].’
The headmaster added: ‘The precondition is that political views should not be promoted inside schools. Teachers and students also need to understand the mission of government-run schools.’
Hong Kong police laid siege to the city’s Polytechnic University from last weekend, firing rubber bullets and tear gas to pin back protesters armed with petrol bombs and other weapons and stop them from fleeing amid fears of a bloody crackdown.
The anti-government movement was ignited in June when millions took to streets in opposition to a now-abandoned attempt to allow extraditions from Hong Kong to the mainland. Pictured, protesters react as police fire tear gas after a march to call for democratic reforms on July 21
The siege of the city’s Polytechnic University appeared to be nearing an end after almost a week. An aerial view shows the main entrance (bottom central) to the campus on the Kowloon peninsula and debris leftover from protesters who barricaded themselves inside
For days, protesters fortified the campus to keep police from getting in. Cornered by authorities, they were trying to get out.
Desperate activists tried to flee by climbing through sewage pipes or abseiling from bridges.
Around 1,000 people have been arrested or recorded, including around 300 aged below 18, during the siege of the university on the Kowloon peninsula, according to police.
Action appeared to be nearing an end with the number of protesters dwindling to a few dozen, days after some of the worst violence since the demonstrations began.
At least eight protesters who had been holding out surrendered early today, while others continued to search for escape routes past riot police who surrounded the campus.
Police said there was no deadline for ending the standoff.