Inside the Hong Kong university campus turned makeshift protest hub

A protester yells “Fire in the hole!”, a projectile shatters a pane of glass, and a cheer goes up from the gathered students.  

Hong Kong Polytechnic University is one of the city’s leading engineering schools, and the students here are clearly pleased with the success of their improvised catapult. 

But there is nothing academic about this experiment in ballistics.  PolyU is one of several universities across Hong Kong that were turned into fortresses this week, as students and protesters fearing police assault barricaded and fortified campuses with catapults, petrol bombs, and even bows and arrows. 

The campus takeovers are the latest escalation in the most violent week to rock Hong Kong since…