Rioters set fire on road outside of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Hong Kong, South China, November 17, 2019. Photo: Xinhua

As rioters inside the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) have begun surrendering to police, an expert noted that the law enforcement operation to deal with the campus occupation has been a successful campaign of stopping violence and chaos for the city.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Tuesday called on rioters who are still inside PolyU to stop using violence. Police will continue to persuade and arrange for the remaining rioters to leave the campus as soon as possible, so the operation can "end in a peaceful manner and lay the basis for the subsequent work by the police to stop violence in Hong Kong," she said.

Local media said more and more rioters started to surrender after some of them failed to escape or were arrested. The number of the rioters and suspects who are participating in illegal activities in the campus is reducing. Pictures circulated online showed that rioters had caused significant damage, leaving boxes, flammable chemicals and unidentified gas canisters littering the campus.    

Senior management of the university, including PolyU President Teng Jin-guang, went to persuade the rioters, some of whom are students of PolyU, to lay down their weapons and surrender. Former president of the Hong Kong Legislative Council Jasper Tsang Yok-sing also went to convince the rioters to give up and accept the police's arrangement.  

According to Carrie Lam, some 600 people had left PolyU, 200 of whom were under the age of 18 and allowed to return home, while about 100 others were believed to still remain on the campus. A retired senior officer of the Hong Kong Police Force who asked for anonymity told the Gobal Times that "tactically, the police law enforcement this time is much wiser and more decisive than last time in the Chinese University of Hong Kong," which had allowed many rioters to escape.

He said this is a successful case of law enforcement and that it was a tough fight. In future, if rioters dare to occupy another university to make it a stronghold, the police have got enough experience to deal with it, and this is a good sign for stopping chaos in the whole city. 

From Sunday afternoon, rioters gathering around PolyU had taken over the campus as a stronghold to launch assaults on police officers using lethal weapons, including Molotov cocktails, bows and arrows, metal balls and bricks.

More and more minors chose to surrender, and one of them told local reporters that he can't hold on anymore because he hasn't slept for a very long time. A few rioters also tried to escape through the sewers, but came back because they got lost in the university's sewage system.