Universities Cancel Evening Lectures

A number of universities have announced the cancellation of evening lectures, citing disruption to transport services and student safety.

The MTR had earlier warned that services were being suspended from 8pm to allow more time for repairs after facilities at various stations were damaged by anti-government protesters over the long weekend.

Chinese University and the University of Hong Kong said all lectures scheduled to start after 6:30pm were cancelled.

The University of Hong Kong also said that heads of departments and units should decide whether or not to cancel any other scheduled activities, taking into consideration the ongoing situation and the nature of the activities.

Meanwhile, Baptist University said in a statement that all classes scheduled to start after 4:30pm on both Tuesday and Wednesday were being cancelled.

It said the decision was made in response to students’ growing concerns about personal safety while travelling to and from the university in the evening. Management appealled to students to stay away from danger.

The university's campus in Kowloon Tong saw a demonstraion on Tuesday afternoon over the arrest of five students on Sunday outside the uni's grounds, on suspicion of illegal assembly.

The demonstrators challenged representatives from the firm that provides security for the university, accusing two of its guards of doing nothing to prevent riot police officers storming through the campus, without permission, as they chased a protester on Sunday.

The company admitted that its staff did not know how to handle the situation and said the pair have been suspended from duties at the Kowloon Tong campus.

"If the two security staff cannot fulfill their duties, the immediate dismissal of the two is what we want", said Keith Fong, president of the student union.

The security company said it would further investigate what happened and get back to the university.