Hong Kong police officially end siege at university

Police restored school administrators' control of Hong Kong Polytechnic University on Friday, declaring that there were no pro-democracy protesters left on the wrecked campus after a two-week siege, The New York Times reports. Police arrested hundreds of protesters during the showdown, the latest episode amid months of civic unrest.

On Thursday, a team of about 400 officers conducted a sweep of the university, and found nearly 4,000 firebombs, 921 gas canisters, and 588 containers of chemicals, including acid and other corrosive liquids, the South China Morning Post reports. The transfer of control back to school officials marked the end of one of the most intense clashes between protesters and police in a month of escalating unrest following the death of a student who fell from a parking structure during a police operation.