Hong Kong police and firefighters have entered the Hong Kong Polytechnic University on November 28 to search for dangerous chemicals. Photo: Yin Hao/GT

The president of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) said on Friday, after the management of the university took over the campus from the police, that the campus was severely damaged during the occupation of rioters.

After inspecting the university that had been occupied by rioters for about two weeks, President of PolyU Teng Jin-Guang told the media that severe damage has been done to buildings, facilities, laboratories and many other things.

Of the around 1,100 people who left the campus after the standoff, more than 300 were high school students and 46 were PolyU students, according to Teng.

During the past two days of clean-up operation, police have seized 3,989 bottles of petrol bombs, 1,339 pieces of explosives, 601 bottles of corrosive liquids and 573 pieces of weapons from the campus of PolyU.

"Over the last two weeks, we had to suspend classes and the operations of the campus. This had a devastating effect on the teaching and research activities of the university," Teng said.

"We will immediately start our work to assess the safety and security of the campus," the president said, adding that it would take about five to six months to do all the repair work.