The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) turned into a war zone on Tuesday, dominated by a huge fire and smoke, road barricades and fierce confrontation between rioters and police. Photo: Web

A senior Hong Kong police officer said police operations at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) on Tuesday are only aimed at stopping rioters from throwing debris onto the street. 

Wong Wai-shun, senior superintendent (operations), said at Wednesday's press conference that at about 5 am on Tuesday, some people dropped debris from the bridge to the highway. Because vehicles had to avoid the debris, police officers had no choice but to go to the bridge to disperse and prevent the mobs from throwing debris.

When the police handled the mob, there was a confrontation. The only goal of the police was to protect the drivers on the Tolo Highway. However, during the operations, some rioters attacked us from the side of the university with debris and Molotov cocktails.

Earlier on Tuesday, protesters at CUHK threw objects onto Tolo Highway and an MTR track. To stop such illegal acts, Hong Kong police moved in to disperse the crowd, but faced a fierce standoff with protesters at an entrance of the Sha Tin campus.

Student protesters also stormed a storeroom on campus and stole bows, arrows and javelins. Some mainland students also said groups of rioters besieged their dormitories and spray-painted insults on the wall.

Wong said there was a deal with the school, which was that as long as the mob stopped throwing debris, police officers would back off. However, they did not stop throwing bricks and Molotov cocktails and police had no choice but to arrest them. 

The school's president communicated with police on Tuesday afternoon and police repeated their stance. However, after the president talked to the students, police officers still saw some rioters confronting them with saws, Wong claimed. 

Although the police left at 11 pm on Tuesday, the highway still suffered from congestion this morning. While some people questioned the reason for the police enforcement near the campus, the police stressed that there is only one purpose, which was to protect people.

Wong also showed reporters the bows and arrows rioters used, saying that it can pierce police officers' uniforms if launched within 50- 80 meters.