Democratic Party lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung, who has stayed on campus since Sunday, says most students and radicals are already very tired after previous confrontations with police, and their supplies are running low.
“The confrontations have paused for now, police can’t come in, but protesters can’t go out either,” Hui tells the Post. “The students are all very tired and some are tying to make some calls in case they get arrested. Food and drinking water are starting to get less and less, maybe they can’t stand another day.”
Ken Woo Kwok-wang, the acting president of Polytechnic University’s student union who is on campus, tells the Post between 600 and 700 people are still there. More than half of them are believed to be PolyU students, he says.
Woo says dozens of them tried to leave the campus through different entrances on Monday morning, but almost all of them were forced to retreat in the face of the tear gas fired by police. He believes only one of them managed to flee.
“Hong Kong police are creating a humanitarian crisis inside PolyU,” he says. “We are trapped. There is insufficient food and the number of injured is on the rise and the hygiene situation is getting worse. They are trying to push the students to a dead end, forcing them either to surrender or resist by putting their lives at risk.”
More than 50 first aiders are still on campus to take care of the injured, Woo says. “Many people have been hurt by the water cannon fired by the police overnight. The water has hit their heads and skin, causing dizziness and rashes,” he says, adding some also suffered from hypothermia.
Woo also calls on different organisations, including international groups, to offer humanitarian assistance to PolyU.
Updated at 11:42AM