Some rioters throw hard objects at the rail line linking Fo Tan and Hung Hom in Hong Kong on Tuesday, forcing passengers to get off the train and walk along the rail. Photo: Zhao Yu/GT

Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), said on Tuesday morning that the rioters aiming to paralyze Hong Kong are very selfish, while radical protesters continued their citywide strike on early Tuesday which seriously disrupted morning traffic. 

Lam appealed to residents to continue their work and school and not compromise to rioters. 

Masked protesters have disrupted roads and affected public transport in different regions in Hong Kong as well as some railway routes, affecting a large number of people going to work and school, she said.

Since 7 am Tuesday morning, some radical protesters have been gathering at a footbridge leading to the Student Residence of City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, throwing bricks and other hard objects from the heights to the ground. 

Some radical protesters set up barricades and blocked the junction of Cornwall Street and Tat Chee Avenue with bricks, wooden boards and iron railings. 

Police fired tear gas in their dispersal operation at Kowloon Tong, according to the Hong Kong government. 

Some rioters threw hard objects at the rail line linking Fo Tan and Hung Hom, forcing passengers to get off the train and walk along the rail.

"This is the first time I have used an escape ladder of an MTR train, and I never dreamed that I would walk like this along the rail, which is absurd," a local resident from Fo Tan stuck in Sha Tin, told the Global Times. Enough is enough, will these black-clad rioters destroy this city until they ruin everything? many residents asked. 

At major roads near Hong Kong Polytechnic University, mobs continued their rampage on Tuesday morning, with rioters throwing hard objects including glass, metal batons and road barricades from a footbridge, which almost hit cars passing by. The Global Times reporters' car was almost hit by a metal baton thrown from above.

The Transport Department of Hong Kong said on Tuesday morning that over 130 sets of damaged traffic lights are under urgent repair in various districts. 

As for the upcoming district council elections, Lam said on Tuesday that this year's elections are different, as some legislators' offices have been damaged and their personal security threatened. 

We do not see a deadline of whether to postpone the elections because such a decision is hard and is not up to the chief executive alone, Lam said. 

Global Times