Hong Kong's secondary schools have become the latest ideological battleground for pro-democracy protesters with thousands of students taking part in human chain rallies since the new academic year kicked off.

Tam, 16, was outside his school in Hong Kong's Yau Ma Tei district earlier this week where he and dozens of other classmates linked hands in what has become a daily ritual across the semi-autonomous Chinese city.

These human chain demonstrations in which pupils form long lines and chant slogans, are the latest way the city's youth have chosen to voice support for pro-democracy protests that have plunged the financial hub into crisis.

"Hong Kong students are known for being hardworking and having lots of homework, but we still choose to stand out today," he told AFP, asking not to use his full name.

"Even if we do not have any power as a student, we can actually stand out to form this chain to speak out our demands," he added.

Millions have taken to Hong Kong's streets over the last 14 weeks in the biggest challenge to China's rule since the city's handover from Britain in 1997.

What started as a pushback against a bill allowing extraditions to mainland China snowballed into wider calls for democracy and police accountability after the city's leaders and Beijing refused concessions.

The movement is primarily youth-led and many school children and students have joined what has been an unprecedented summer of political rage.

But with schools going back a fortnight ago, younger students have found ways to keep their protests going, even as they attend classes.

Each morning it is not uncommon to see rows of youngsters in uniforms standing outside their schools, shouting slogans like "Reclaim Hong Kong, revolution of our times" and "Free Hong Kong".

- Class boycotts -

Class boycotts have also been organised by some in schools and universities.

In a video that went viral last week, students at one school were filmed singing "Do you hear the people sing?" -- a protest anthem from the musical "Les Miserables" -- over the Chinese national anthem, as teachers looked on unsure what to do.

Others held sit-ins or created protest "Lennon Walls" plastered with sticky notes inside their classrooms.

Hong Kong's Education Bureau sent out official guidelines in late August saying authorities would be collecting the numbers of absent students and details on any teachers who participated in class boycotts.

"No one should use schools as a platform to express their political views," education minister Kevin Yeung Yun-hung said in an open letter to parents before the term started.

"And we should never get underage children involved in order to avoid inciting emotions and creating pressure that harm school harmony," he added.

Student groups have set a deadline of late Friday for their remaining demands to be met.

After months of refusing to back down, city leader Carrie Lam fully withdrew the loathed extradition bill last week but the gesture was dismissed as too little, too late.

Protesters are demanding an inquiry into the police, an amnesty for those arrested, retraction of the term "riot" to describe protests and universal suffrage.

One eleventh grade student was standing outside his school earlier this week wearing a helmet. He said he knew there was a risk of reprisals for protesting.

"But it's better to be punished than let our right to speak freely be restricted," he added.

Hong Kong leader tells US not to 'interfere' after fresh protests
Hong Kong (AFP) Sept 10, 2019 - Hong Kong's embattled leader warned the United States on Tuesday not to "interfere" with her government's response to the city's pro-democracy movement, after fresh protests called on Washington to ramp up pressure on Beijing.

Millions of people have demonstrated over the last 14 weeks in the biggest challenge to China's rule of the financial hub since its handover from Britain in 1997.

Protesters took to the streets again on Sunday, marching to the American consulate to call on Congress to pass a bill expressing support for the pro-democracy movement.

The proposed law could undermine Hong Kong's special US trade privileges by mandating regular checks on whether authorities were respecting the Basic Law that underpins the city's semi-autonomous status.

But Hong Kong's pro-Beijing Chief Executive Carrie Lam said that any change to its economic relationship with Washington would threaten "mutual benefits".

"It's extremely inappropriate for any country to interfere in Hong Kong's affairs," she told reporters.

"I hope that no more people in Hong Kong actively reach out to tell the United States to pass the act."

While some American politicians on both sides of the aisle have expressed support for the democratic goals of the protesters, President Donald Trump's administration has maintained a more hands-off approach while it fights a trade war with China.

Trump has called for a peaceful resolution to the political crisis and urged Beijing to not escalate with a violent crackdown.

But he has also said it is up to China to handle the protests.

Washington has rejected Beijing's allegations that it is backing the demonstrators and China has provided little evidence to back its claims beyond supportive statements from some US politicians.

Separately, more than 150 lawmakers in Britain have called on Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to offer second citizenship and the right of abode to residents of Hong Kong.

That would "send a strong message to China that the people of Hong Kong are not alone", the open letter said.

- 'Crazy destruction' -

Hong Kong's protests were lit by a plan to allow extraditions to the authoritarian mainland, seen by opponents as the latest move by China to chip away at the city's unique freedoms.

After Beijing and city leaders took a hard line, the movement snowballed into a broader campaign calling for greater democracy, police accountability and an amnesty for those arrested.

The protests show no signs of abating, and Lam has struck an uncompromising tone for much of the last three months.

But last week, she made a surprise concession, announcing the full withdrawal of the extradition bill.

That was not enough to mollify pro-democracy activists, who denounced the move as too little and too late, and huge crowds thronged the streets again over the weekend.

In what has become a familiar pattern, Sunday's main daytime rally to the US consulate passed off peacefully.

But as evening set in, riot police chased groups of hardcore protesters who blocked roads, vandalised nearby subway stations and set makeshift barricades on fire.

Lam once again denounced demonstrators during her Tuesday press conference.

"The crazy destruction made at MTR stations shows that protesters have acted beyond expressing their views on the extradition law and other demands," she said, using the name of the firm that runs the city's underground rail service.

"The escalating and continuous violence cannot solve the problems we face in Hong Kong."

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