HONG KONG – Clad in gas masks along with their formal white school uniforms, tens of thousands of students in Hong Kong boycotted the first day of classes Monday as part of a citywide strike following a violent weekend of demonstrations.
High school students added gas masks, goggles and hard hats to their traditional uniforms, while university pupils crowded into a square at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Workers also participated in their own rally at a public park, braving strong winds and storm clouds as a typhoon threatened.
Nearly three months of youth-dominated protests – calling for democracy and an independent inquiry into police conduct – will be tested as classes resume with the end of the summer break in the semiautonomous Chinese territory.
The young protesters strove to demonstrate their continued determination with Monday’s school boycott, the first of a planned two-day strike.
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/sep/02/tens-of-thousands-in-hong-kong-boycott-first-day-o/