Hong Kong: Universities cancel classes in view of protests

Hong Kong is embroiled in a number of protests that have led to many American Universities suspending their study abroad programs amid the violent standoff between the police and protestors.

Many Honk Kong universities have suspended classes for the rest of the semester in view of the instances of barricading and setting fire to campus property.

Also known as the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill or Anti-ELAB movement, the 2019 Hong Kong protests are demonstrations being held in Hong Kong.

These protests were triggered by the introduction, by the Hong Kong government, of the Fugitive Offenders amendment bill.

Were the Bill to have become a law, the local authorities would have got the power to detain and extradite people wanted in territories – like Taiwan and Mainland China – that did not have an extradition agreement with Hong Kong.

Although the Bill was withdrawn later, the protestors have continued with their demand for universal suffrage, greater democratic freedom, and an independent investigation into misconduct by the police.

Students of the Syracuse University will be leaving their respective universities when the program ends on November 19.

Previously, masked students had laid siege to the Chinese University of Hong Kong throwing bricks, Molotov cocktails, and other improvised weapons at the police. The police retaliated with rubber bullets and tear gas.

15 Georgetown University students pursuing courses at the City University of Hong Kong and Chinese University of Hong Kong were also in the process of exiting the city.

As per a Georgetown spokesperson, once all such students had been safely relocated, the University would be working with them to ensure that they could remotely complete the remaining portion of their academic coursework.

The University of California Education Abroad Program announced last week that its spring study abroad program in Hong Kong would be suspended. Students that were planning to continue with their studies in Hong Kong would be transferred onto a different program.

Currently, 79 UC students were studying at different universities in Hong Kong. These students had been given the option of returning home earlier than initially planned.

According to Kent Syverud, Syracuse Chancellor, in view of the “the high degree of uncertainty”, it is believed that the best interest of their students would indeed be served by leaving Hong Kong.

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