HK braces for violent clashes on 4th day of protests

Hong Kong was on Thursday bracing for more traffic chaos and possibly violent clashes as protesters have pledged to carry on with their new strategy of paralysing the city's transport links on weekdays for the fourth day in a row.

Classes at kindergartens and primary and secondary schools have been suspended for the day, the first time this week, while major universities have announced they will shorten the term or replace on-campus classes with online lectures for now, reports the South China Morning Post.

On Wednesday, there were no confrontations at Chinese University, the site of a fiery battlefield where protesters and police locked horns in a full-day clash on Tuesday.

At the varsity, protesters spent Thursday strengthening their barricades as the city's High Court dismissed an urgent bid launched by student leaders to bar police entry to the Sha Tin campus.

Elsewhere, protesters brought major thoroughfares in Central, Tai Po, Yuen Long, Kowloon Tong and other districts to a standstill with elaborate barricades made of bricks and bamboo sticks.

Meanwhile, a 70-year-old man was fighting for his life after being hit in the head by a brick in Sheung Shui during a clash between protesters and residents.

The man was among 58 people, aged one to 81, injured on Wednesday.

Thousands of people continue to remain on the streets of Hong Kong's financial district, and are blocking Pedder Street, Des Voeux Road Central, and Connaught Road Central.

They were using rubbish bins and traffic cones to build barricades, but there was no consensus as to how long they will stay, or where to go next.

Since the unrest, sparked by the now-withdrawn extradition bill, began in June, police said they had arrested more than 4,000 people, 39.3 per cent of whom are students and nearly half of them are in tertiary institutions.

On Tuesday, the force arrested 142 people.

( With inputs from IANS )