Hong Kong protesters caught in police standoff

Police in Hong Kong continued to surround the Hong Kong Polytechnic University late on Monday as hundreds of protesters remained trapped on campus. The demonstrators, fearing arrest, have refused to come out since last week. A few hundred of them ran back to the campus on Monday morning after police fired tear gas as they tried to flee via ropes attached to a footbridge.

What is the atmosphere in Hong Kong right now? The pro-democracy movement that began in June has brought the semi-autonomous territory to a standstill. The Education Bureau said classes from kindergarten to high school will remain suspended on Tuesday, the sixth straight day. The Hong Kong government said the weekend clashes “reduced the chance” of holding district elections on Sunday. In a victory for the protesters, the territory’s High Court ruled on Monday that the mask ban the government imposed last month on protesters was unconstitutional.

Dig deeper: Read June Cheng’s report in Snapshots of China on the death of a college-age protester.