UN urges 'peaceful resolution' to Hong Kong campus siege

The UN urged Hong Kong authorities Tuesday to seek a "peaceful resolution" to a campus siege, while calling on protesters to renounce the use of violence.

The siege at PolyU began Sunday with many hundreds of protesters occupying the campus as part of a broader campaign of massive disruption across the territory that began last week.

The ensuing confrontation was the most intense and prolonged of Hong Kong's pro-democracy crisis, which has seen millions take to the streets since June to voice anger at China's erosion of the territory's freedoms.

"We have been following with deepening concern the situation in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region over the past few months," UN human rights office spokesman Rupert Colville told reporters.

"With regard to the current situation at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, we urge the authorities to do all they can to de-escalate the situation," he said.

He called on Hong Kong authorities "to address the humanitarian situation of those inside, which is clearly deteriorating, and facilitate a peaceful resolution." During the siege protesters had repelled police surges with a barrage of Molotov cocktails, arrows and bricks. Police threatened to use live rounds in response.

Colville voiced alarm at the "extreme violence" used by some of the protesters.

"We are gravely concerned about the increasing violence by groups of young people engaging in the protests who are clearly very angry, with deep-seated grievances," he said.

He stressed that the vast majority of people in Hong Kong have been exercising their freedom of assembly "in accordance with the law" and that authorities had "by and large respected the exercise of this right." But, he insisted, "the resort to extreme violence, including against the police force, by some engaged in the protests... cannot be condoned.

"We would appeal to all engaging in protests to renounce and condemn the use of violence." The UN rights office was "deeply concerned at the risk of further escalation of violence in Hong Kong," Colville said.

He urged the authorities to engage in dialogue "in order to find peaceful solutions to the grievances raised by a significant number of Hong Kong citizens."

Colville also stressed the need for accountability, "both in the case of individuals who have broken the law and committed acts of violence, but also in the case of allegations of excessive use of force by the police."