HONG KONG, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Hong Kong police said Friday that rioters were occupying several universities in Hong Kong and escalating violence on and around the campuses, warning against turning the universities into "riot bridgehead".

The police were aware of and extremely concerned about the fact that some universities were turned into "the most dangerous place in current Hong Kong, " Chief Superintendent of Police Public Relations Branch (PPRB) Tse Chun-chung said at a press briefing on Friday afternoon.

Over the past days, several universities were turned into "lawless stronghold for rioters" and "breeding bed for crimes" where rioters inflicted greater damage to the campus facilities and committed extensive violence and vandalism in the areas around, Tse said.

At the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), the rioters hurled petrol bombs on the lawn on the campus, stole the school bus and other vehicles to transport weapons, and stored a large amount of flammable liquids for manufacturing petrol bombs.

They even set up checkpoints at the entrances to prevent people disagreeing with them and some journalists from entering the campus. The access for ambulances, fire engines and supermarket food delivery trucks to the campus was also restricted.

On a bridge over a carriageway outside the CUHK campus, rioters used bows, arrows and other hard objects to intimidate workers who were trying to clear the debris on the highway on Friday morning.

At the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), the swimming pool was used as a "practicing range" for hurling petrol bombs.

Outside the PolyU campus, rioters continued blocking roads and throwing hard objects and petrol bombs from height at people trying to clear the barricades and vehicles passing by.

In video footage displayed at the press briefing, explosions could be heard as some rioters on Thursday night set fires to facilities at the entrance to the Cross Harbor Tunnel at Hung Hom, including toll booths and electrical distribution box.

Outside the campus of the Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), roads were completely blocked by arrays of bricks, obstructing the transport of patients of a nearby hospital.

Noting that the CUHK President Rocky Tuan Sung-chi said in an open letter that the CUHK campus "has been occupied by masked protesters" and the situation has become "completely out of control and unacceptable", Tse said that the police were extremely concerned over the situation on the campus.

"The police will continue closely monitoring the situation on the campus. If it further deteriorates, the police will certainly take corresponding measures," he said.

According to Senior Superintendent of PPRB Kong Wing-cheung, the police arrested 58 people on Thursday, including 40 males and 18 females aged between 12 and 62 years.

Their offenses include illegal assembly, possession of offensive weapons, assaulting police, using facial masking in unlawful assembly, etc.

Two policemen were injured in the operations on Thursday. Enditem

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