Campus Vandalised As Students' Grief Turns To Fury

Sorrow turned to anger at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology on Friday, as students mourning the death of Chow Tsz-lok demanded "blood for blood, a life for a life" as they stepped up calls for a tough response from management.

Students gathered on campus as news of the 22-year-old's death broke on Friday, and transformed a stage that had been erected for a graduation ceremony into a makeshift memorial for him.

They daubed slogans and graffiti on the stage to reflect growing anger and suspicion about the police’s actions in Tseung Kwan O on the night of Chow’s death.

Some allege the police may have confronted Chow, while others believe the police deliberately hindered the efforts of ambulance staff to reach the student and take him to hospital.

Students, many clad in black garb and face masks, gathered below the stage, chanting protest slogans and calling on the university president, Wei Shyy, to condemn police violence.

They marched to Shyy’s residence on campus, to press their demands in person. While some students put up posters at the president’s residence, others broke glass panels on doors there.

There was also vandalism elsewhere on campus, with students saying they felt it was the only thing they could do to force Shyy to respond to their demands.

A Starbucks coffee shop was damaged, with glass smashed and furniture knocked over. A branch of the Bank of China was also attacked, and flooded with a fire hose.

Both the coffee shop chain and the bank are regular targets of anti-government protesters.