More Countries Urge Students To Leave Hong Kong

Universities in the three Scandinavian nations of Sweden, Norway and Denmark have all urged their exchange students in Hong Kong to consider leaving the SAR in light of the escalating violence.

The move comes after Taiwan arranged for dozens of its students to fly home following fierce clashes between police and student protesters at the Chinese University on Tuesday.

University campuses were still flashpoints on Thursday, with tear gas fired at Polytechnic University in the morning and students preparing themselves for possible battles at other institutions.

In Sweden, the universities of Gothenburg, Malmö, Örebro, Lund and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm urged students studying at several institutions in Hong Kong to consider flying home, Swedish public broadcaster Sveriges Radio reported.

The Technical University of Denmark told 36 students they should consider leaving the SAR, with the institution's chief Anders Overgaard Bjarklev saying they had received reports of students being forced to move from their dormitories because they had been set on fire, and that Molotov cocktails had been thrown near university campuses.

Meanwhile, Norwegian students told their country's NRK broadcaster that they have been evacuated from their universities in Hong Kong.

"We're being sent to a hotel now. I don't really know what is going on," said Elina Neverdal Hjønnevåg, a student at Baptist University.

Lectures at some of the SAR's universities have either been cancelled for the rest of the semester or are moving online and one Swedish student said some people don't see any need to flee.

"It is a confusing situation and the school has announced that lectures are cancelled and will take place via Skype instead. But most of my friends who study here are thinking of staying," Jakob Hultgren told Sveriges Radio.

The European Union's office in Hong Kong said it was monitoring the situation regarding the safety of EU students in the SAR and was keeping in close contact with the bloc's consulates on the matter.