Taiwan Repatriates Students After CUHK Violence

Taiwan authorities said on Wednesday they had arranged flight tickets to the island for dozens of Taiwanese students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), after the pitched campus battles this week between police and protesters.

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office – Taiwan's defacto consulate in Hong Kong – said the CUHK Taiwanese Students Association had turned to it for help following the violence on Tuesday night.

The office then sent staff to the university in Sha Tin and escorted 85 Taiwanese students onto coaches bound for the airport.

Another 41 Taiwanese students had made their own way to Chek Lap Kok, the office said, and all 126 in total had tickets for a China Airlines flight to Taiwan on Wednesday night.

The Mainland Affairs Council in Taiwan also said it was keeping in touch with Taiwanese students in other universities in Hong Kong, adding that 40 at Polytechnic University had already returned to the island amid the SAR's escalating unrest.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Hong Kong police force said it had evacuated mainland students from CUHK by boat, because they were also scared for their safety.