A female teacher outside a school in Hong Kong on Monday was left injured after a knife-wielding man attacked her, as students were boycotting classes through human-chain protests which have entered their second week.
The knife-attack took place outside Cognitio College in Kowloon when the man injured the teacher who was trying to protect students who formed a human chain. A video circulating online showed the agitated, shirtless man in blue shorts, waving a box-cutter at people dressed in black, with some onlookers trying to calm him.
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Thousands of students formed human chains outside schools as they continued to push the government to meet their five demands despite last week’s pledge to withdraw the extradition bill, the South China Morning Post reported. After a weekend of violent clashes, the schools opened on Monday amid human-chain protests by the students.
On Sunday activists started fires in the street and vandalised a Mass Transit Railway station in the main business district of Hong Kong, after thousands rallied peacefully at the US consulate, calling for help in bringing democracy to the special administrative region of China
A police spokesman said the teacher suffered hand injuries and was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The man left before officers arrived and is currently on the run, the spokesman added. A school representative said no students were hurt in the attack.
In another incident at the PLK Vicwood KT Chong Sixth Form College, Tai Kok Tsui, a human chain was disrupted when an alumnus was injured by a falling object, according to authorities. It was unclear where the object came from.
Students from more than 120 schools across the city took part in the collective action on Monday. Most students opted to form human chains before the classes started at about 8am, rather than join the boycotts.
After more than three months of fierce protests, Hong Kong faces its first recession in a decade. Tourist arrivals plunged 40% in August year on year, said Paul Chan, the city’s finance secretary. With sustained clashes leading to main roads being shrouded in tear gas and being blocked, the international airport shut down, has hit the tourism, retail, and hotel industries.
Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced on Wednesday that she will formally withdraw the controversial China extradition bill which sparked 13 weeks of mass protests that had frequently turned violent.
