Photos: Protesters in Hong Kong University search for escape route

Inside the increasingly empty and trashed campus of a Hong Kong university only a handful of activists held out on Thursday as they desperately searched for ways to escape or hide while squads of police encircled the grounds. Much of Hong Kong's Polytechnic University, which teemed with 33,000 students, faculty and staff in the most recent school year, has become a deserted wasteland. Hundreds of anti-government protesters had fortified the campus and engaged in street battles with riot police earlier this week. But now the number of protesters has dwindled to fewer than 100, turning the grounds into an eerily empty compound scattered with debris and defaced with political slogans.

Updated on: Nov 22, 2019 9:46 AM IST

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Updated on Nov 22, 2019 9:46 AM

The slogan “Never Surrender” is spray painted on a wall in the besieged Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in Hong Kong. Inside the increasingly empty and trashed campus of a Hong Kong university only a handful of activists held out on Thursday as they desperately searched for ways to escape or hide while squads of police encircled the grounds. (Thomas Peter / REUTERS)

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Updated on Nov 22, 2019 9:46 AM

A sewer is pictured as anti-government protesters look for an escape route in an underground carpark at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). Much of Hong Kong’s Polytechnic University, which teemed with 33,000 students, faculty and staff in the most recent school year, has become a deserted wasteland. (Adnan Abidi / REUTERS)

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Updated on Nov 22, 2019 9:46 AM

Belongings of an anti-government protester. Trash and debris from homemade petrol bombs were strewn across the grounds. Many protesters abandoned their equipment, including gas masks and umbrellas. (Adnan Abidi / REUTERS)

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Updated on Nov 22, 2019 9:46 AM

A rescue diver enters the sewer to search for anti-government protesters. Michelle, a 20-year-old student, said on the Polytechnic University’s Kowloon peninsula campus. More than 1,000 protesters who tried to leave earlier this week were arrested, and most of those who remain say they hope to avoid being arrested for rioting or on other charges. (Thomas Peter / REUTERS)

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Updated on Nov 22, 2019 9:46 AM

Anti-government protesters rest in the gymnasium. Hong Kong has had a brief respite from months of often violent demonstrations, with relative calm across the city for the past two days and nights ahead of District Council elections set for Sunday. (Thomas Peter / REUTERS)

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Updated on Nov 22, 2019 9:46 AM

The unrest marks the most serious popular challenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012. Some protesters have surrendered while others were held during escape attempts that included clambering down from a bridge to waiting motorbikes and fleeing through the sewers. (Adnan Abidi / REUTERS)

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Updated on Nov 22, 2019 9:46 AM

The protesters say that they are angry at the way the MTR, Hong Kong’s public rail network, has helped riot police, and shutting down key infrastructure forces the government to listen to their demands for universal suffrage and an independent inquiry into police violence, among other things. The Cross Harbour Tunnel remained shut because of extensive damage, authorities said. (Thomas Peter / REUTERS)