Hundreds of school students boycotted classes in Hong Kong to join pro-democracy demonstrations on Monday morning as they returned after summer vacation. Protestors also disrupted trains in the rush hours by standing at doorways at underground stations, AFP reported. They had called for a general strike.

Secondary school students formed human chains outside government schools before classes began. Some wore the paraphernalia now regular for the protestors to escape police action, such as gas masks, helmets and goggles.

Students also gathered outside the Chinese University of Hong Kong and made speeches from a stage with a sign saying “Students in Unity Boycott for our City”, Reuters reported. Social media pictures showed teenagers holding banners outside secondary schools.

A 19-year-old student said: “I come here just to tell others that even after summer holidays end, we are not back to our normal life, we should continue to fight for Hong Kong. These protests awaken me to care more about the society and care for the voiceless.”

Many primary schools were closed following a typhoon warning.

Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung said schools were no place for protests.

On Sunday, 25 flights were cancelled as protestors blocked roads and public transport leading up to the airport. The city saw one of its worst clashes on Saturday night and Sunday morning as police fired tear gas and water cannon on protestors.

Saturday’s protests came on the fifth anniversary of a decision by China to curtail democratic reforms and rule out universal suffrage in Hong Kong, a former British colony that was returned to China in 1997.

The protests

The protests had initially been organised to oppose a bill that would have allowed extraditions to China. They have now evolved into a backlash against the city’s government and its political masters in Beijing.

The government has refused to accept any of the protestors’ main demands, which include a complete withdrawal of the extradition bill besides an independent inquiry into the use of excessive police force against the demonstrators. They are also demanding the resignation of the city’s leader Carrie Lam.

Last month, Beijing had claimed that criminals and agitators were stirring violence, encouraged by foreign powers such as Britain and the United States.

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