Words of Peter

On behalf of the Senior Management Team, I condemn the behaviour last night of HKU students who (amongst others) put the safety of Council members, including me, and University and security staff at serious risk, and besieged (圍攻) the building in which Council had met so that we were unable to leave for several hours. This is not the way to achieve progress: we will always be willing to engage in rational discussion and debate with students but we cannot condone (容忍) mob (暴民) rule. The actions were totally unnecessary because the Council had earlier, as announced in a press statement at the end of the meeting, unanimously (一致地) agreed to commission (委員會) a review into the University’s governance which was one of the central demands that the students had made publicly. The scenes last night will have further damaged the University’s reputation and they bring no credit to those involved: HKU students should be capable of better. Video images were recorded and will be made available to the police.