Dozens of Hong Kong protesters make daring campus breakout

Dozens of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters dramatically escaped a two-day police siege at a university campus late Monday by shimmying down ropes from a bridge to waiting motorbikes, after Beijing again warned it could intervene to end the crisis engulfing the city.

Clashes rumbled into the early hours of Tuesday between protesters and police who had threatened to use deadly force to dislodge activists holed up at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU).

The university siege has become a battle of wills between Hong Kong's stretched police force and the constantly innovating protest movement.

Late Monday, dozens of black-clad protesters on a footbridge slithered down ropes several metres to a road below, where they were whisked away on motorbikes.

In an apparently co-ordinated effort, tens of thousands of Hong Kongers streamed towards the PolyU campus to break the siege, as clashes simultaneously raged with police nearby in Kowloon.

Several dozen people remained on the campus, one protester told AFP, although a number of minors were allowed to leave after negotiations with lawmakers.

A new phase of violence and drama began last week and has led to chaos throughout the semi-autonomous city of 7.5 million people, with schools closed, train lines disrupted and major roads blocked by barricades.

China has refused to budge on any of the protesters' demands, and warned it will not tolerate dissent in the financial centre.

A brief appearance by Chinese soldiers on Hong Kong's streets over the weekend -- supposedly to clean up debris -- fuelled concerns that Beijing could intervene militarily.

China's ambassador to Britain upped the ante on Monday.

"The Hong Kong government is trying very hard to put the situation under control," Liu Xiaoming said.

"But if the situation becomes uncontrollable, the central government would certainly not sit on our hands and watch. We have enough resolution and power to end the unrest."
"We are like rats in a trap."