Hong Kong police have arrested three students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and searched three dormitories after a campus protest this month in which a security guard was taken to hospital.
The arrests were made on Monday evening following the incident earlier this month during which masked individuals pushed down metal fences and threw white powder and eggs at guards in protest at campus security measures.
The arrested trio are aged between 19 and 22 and include former student union president Owen Au Cheuk-hei. They were held on suspicion of unlawful assembly and assault with intent, according to a police statement.
“The university will not tolerate illegal and violent incidents on our campus,” a CUHK management statement read, vowing to “fully cooperate with the police” on the matter.
CUHK CampusRadio video footage showed plainclothes officers leading Au out of a student dorm in handcuffs to a waiting vehicle.
Separate footage from Wu Yee Sun College, one of the dormitories, showed around five officers searching a student room. A student union dorm president told StandNews officers took a bagful of documents as evidence.
A 20-year-old student had been arrested in relation to the same incident earlier this month after he was caught by campus security guards near the scene and handed over to the police.
Around eight masked and black-clad individuals damaged security fences at the subway entrance to the CUHK campus on the first day of the new semester on January 11. They reportedly shouted at people entering the campus, urging them not to show their ID passes.
The campus has been closed to the general public since the 2019 police siege, with only those who can show a student or alumni ID being allowed to enter.
‘Whatever means necessary’
A spokesperson for the New Territories South Regional Police Headquarters on Tuesday confirmed a total of four male CUHK students have been arrested in relation to the incident. He called on others who were involved to turn themselves in to the force.
“Police will absolutely not tolerate any violent and illegal behaviour,” he said. “In these instances, police will use whatever means necessary to bring the culprits before the law.”
He confirmed officers searched dormitories and took away clothes, computers and mobile phones as evidence.
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