New world news from Time: Hong Kong Spirals Into Deepening Crisis as Violent Unrest Enters a Fourth Day

Salvos of tear gas Thursday heralded the start of Hong Kong’s fourth day of continuous, territory-wide unrest and transport disruption as anti-government protesters escalated their efforts to force political concessions from the Beijing-backed government. Students also erected defenses at university campuses, stockpiling homemade weapons, in anticipation of clashes with police.

Early morning volleys of tear gas were fired near the Polytechnic University, where police came under attack from students armed with bows and arrows.

Since Monday protesters have periodically barricaded the Cross Harbour Tunnel approach roads, which skirt by the campus, and last night set fire to tunnel toll booths. The tunnel is the main vehicular artery connecting the Kowloon peninsula to the vital business and banking districts of Hong Kong Island, on the opposite shore of Victoria Harbour.

By late morning, there were unconfirmed reports that the Chinese military garrison opposite Polytechnic University had raised warning flags at protesters.

Students also fortified themselves at Hong Kong’s oldest seat of tertiary learning, Hong Kong University, at the Baptist University, and at Chinese University, around 25 kilometers from the city center. Chinese University—dubbed “Rioter’s U” by Chinese state media—was on Tuesday the scene of some of the most violent clashes yet in Hong Kong’s five months of unrest.

Commuters meanwhile endured yet another morning of cancelled buses and trains, and gridlocked traffic, as protesters blocked roads and hurled objects onto railway tracks. One woman, traveling in a car with her husband, told local media that protesters threw a petrol bomb at their vehicle as they attempted to maneuver around an obstruction.

Tensions across the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) network were high as frustrated commuters quarreled and struggled to board the services that remained in operation. Police were called to several stations. Many businesses were meanwhile shut and schools have been suspended for the rest of the week.

Thursday’s disruptions are the fourth straight day of upheaval in Hong Kong, where for the past five months protesters have been waging an increasingly violent campaign for greater political freedom. Hundreds have been arrested in the past week alone and scores hospitalized—at least three critically—in unrest that has flared up across the enclave, from working class suburbs to the heart of the banking district.

In a meeting of the Legislative Council Thursday, Hong Kong’s second-highest ranking official, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung, cast doubt on the viability of local elections in 10 days time.

“How can you vote when there’s neither bus nor MTR, and when projectiles are being hurled?” he reportedly asked lawmakers.

—With reporting by Aria Chen/Hong Kong