Police Deploy Water Cannon At Chinese University

Police have deployed water cannon at Chinese University, following a major confrontation between officers and student protesters that, at one point, saw the university president Rocky Tuan tear-gased.

The water cannon truck approached the students, who were on campus at one end of a bridge that crosses Tolo Highway. The truck move halfway across the bridge, squirted blue-dyed water at the students, then retreated.

Students then moved the bridge and began throwing objects down onto Tolo Highway.

Shortly afterwards, police put out a statement saying they were looking for a peaceful solution and that they were communicating with the school. They said they would retreat to stop the stand-off. The statement called on the protesters to stop charging and throwing objects onto the highway and nearby MTR track.

The students set up barricades earlier in the day following calls for a second day of action across the SAR. They had been throwing objects from the bridge that links the university to the Science Park.

Riot police then turned up at the bridge and arrested a number of students. This angered the students who accused the police of trying to intrude into their campus.

Barricades were set up and by early evening there was a full-on confrontation, with tear gas and firebombs being used and a vehicle set alight, creating scenes reminiscent of a war-zone. Police said a bow and arrow had been used.

Professor Tuan was tear-gased when he had been crossing a bridge to try to ask officers to heed student demands to release three arrested classmates and leave.

At around 7.30 pm, officers suddenly opened fire, after warning Tuan that “this isn’t the time to negotiate”, sending a hail of tear gas and rubber bullets towards him, and a large group of students who were flanking the university chief.

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