UBC Hong Kong club worries for member on exchange at university under siege
Posted November 19, 2019 11:14 am.
Last Updated November 19, 2019 11:15 am.
HONG KONG (NEWS 1130) – Tensions are simmering in Hong Kong, with police poised to move in again on a group of students barricaded a university there which has been under siege for three days. And a Vancouver university club is worried about one of its members.
Anson Cheng, Vice President of UBC’s Hong Kong Students’ Association, says its one of the larger clubs on campus, which is why they don’t talk about politics.
RELATED: Canadian universities encourage exchange students in Hong Kong to head home
But club members are united in concerns about the safety of friends and family in the Chinese territory as tensions and violence have escalated through months of pro-democracy demonstrations.
“Our senior events director is actually on exchange there right now, but she’s flying back next week, mainly because I believe UBC has requested all their exchange students just come back right now, and also classes are cancelled now too. So, there’s no point for them to stay there,” he says.
He says the club tries to stay out of politics.
“I don’t hear much discussion about people supporting one side or the other, it’s more like, [are] our friends and family safe? And then they’re trying to make sure that people who are still in Hong Kong try to leave as soon as possible, because things are escalating pretty fast,” Cheng says.
RELATED: Campus under siege as Hong Kong police battle protesters
Hong Kong police are poised to move in again on the remaining students who have been barricaded for days at Hong Kong Polytechnic, the scene of clashes with fire bombs, tear gas and rubber bullets.
More than 1,000 people have been arrested, and hundreds injured, since the latest round of protests, some of the most intense the city has seen in the five months since they began.
The government has rejected most of the protesters’ demands, even as they turned several university campuses into fortresses and blocked some major roads and trains during rush hour.
– With files from the Associated Press
