5 Vietnamese students return home as Hong Kong unrest escalates

Protesters react after police fired tear gas at the Chinese University of Hong Kong on November 12, 2019. Photo by AFP

The Vietnamese students flew home Saturday morning, Vietnam News Agency reported.

The management board of the Chinese University of Hong Kong last Wednesday announced a premature closure to the semester after protestors and police clashed for two days in the campus. The semester was originally scheduled to end on November 30 and the next to commence on January 6, 2020.

Protesters shot arrows and lobbed petrol bombs at police as fresh violence erupted at many universities in the territory, Reuters reported.

About 180,000 foreign students studying at Hong Kong schools. Vietnam has about 50 undergraduate and graduate students.

The protests began in March but snowballed in June as many Hong Kong residents have opposed an extradition bill which would have allowed defendants charged with serious crimes to be sent for trial abroad, including to courts in mainland China.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam formally withdrew the bill, but the move was unlikely to end months of unrest as it met just one of demands of demonstrators. Protesters are also calling for her to stand down.