Indonesian Students Association (PPI) Hong Kong chairman Michelle Kezia said all universities in Hong Kong have replaced face-to-face sessions with online lectures for the rest of the year.

“So all Indonesian students who want to study at home are allowed to go home. [It applies] until the end of the year, or the end of semester. We’ll start [classroom sessions] again in January 2020,” she told The Jakarta Post via text message.

The series of protests began five months ago to denounce a now-shelved bill that would have allowed extradition to China and had been mainly taking place in the evenings and on weekends. But now those protests have turned into wider calls for democracy and police accountability as violence and demonstrations roil the city, challenging Beijing's authority.

Since the beginning of this week, protesters have caused widespread disruption with barricades and rallies, as the police drafted in reinforcements and the government denied rumors of an imminent curfew, AFP reported. On Thursday, key arterial roads were blocked, many train services suspended and schools closed, while lunchtime rallies took place in the business district as protesters occupied universities.

Michelle said that despite the escalation of violence in many parts of the city, Indonesian students were relatively safe, especially the students living in dormitories outside of the main campus, such as the students at the University of Hong Kong (HKU).

“For City University of Hong Kong [CityU], meanwhile, tear gas was seen around the student residence a few days ago, but there were no Indonesian youth who were victims. As for the Chinese University of Hong Kong [CUHK] there was a big commotion in the campus area too, but there were also no Indonesian students affected,” she said.

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