HKU Student Leaders Not Being Punished: Kevin Yeung

Education minister Kevin Yeung on Saturday denied suggestions that a group of University of Hong Kong students were banned from campus as a punishment for mourning a man who stabbed a police officer before killing himself.

After speaking on a radio programme, Yeung told reporters that the university's decision was reasonable if it thoguht the students posed a threat.

"The University of Hong Kong made the decision due to risk assessment and also [to] control the exposure to unnecessary risks. It made the decision based on its internal procedure and its own assessment, so we will respect its decision based on that," he said.

He added that students should be taught that actions had consequences.

The students' union council attracted widespread criticism after it passed a motion thanking the man for his "sacrifice" for Hong Kong. The council subsequently apologised, but critics urged the police to investigate.

Separately, as of Saturday, more than a thousand HKU alumni have signed a petition in protest at the ban, saying the governing council had deprived the students of their right to study.

The alumnus who started the online campaign said a list of the signatures will be sent to the university management on Monday, calling on it to revoke the decision.

Meanwhile, the official stressed that his bureau had not severed ties with the pro-democracy Professional Teachers' Union because of its political stance.

He said the Education Bureau no longer sees the union as a professional body in the sector because of its "overall behaviour".

He said the fact that the union had said it would now focus on protecting teachers' rights and the profession might show that it did not always do so even in its own opinion.

Yeung also said some teachers may have been affected by what he described as biased information disseminated by the union, though he didn't believe they would be "tempted" by benefits offered by the union to take part in protests or illegal actions.

Separately, Yeung said around 47 percent of teachers and 40 percent of students had been - or would be - vaccinated.

He added he hasn't received applications from schools to resume full day classes yet, saying it's unlikely they can reach a 70 percent inoculation rate when the school year starts in September.

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