HONG KONG • One mother fell to her knees before riot police officers and begged for her daughter's release. Another promised she would boil soup for a trapped son before he made a desperate escape across police lines. A father got his first glimpse of his son in days - as the son was led away in handcuffs.
As the police siege of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) trapped more than 1,000 pro-democracy protesters this week, another group entangled in the city's crisis has turned conspicuously outspoken: their parents.
The voices of mothers and fathers, racked by fear and anger, emerged as a call for compromise in the stand-off on the campus, where on Tuesday several dozen holdouts remained.
Many parents worried not only about the safety of students in Hong Kong's increasingly violent protests, but also about the longer-term consequences for young adults whose lives could now be upended by abruptly truncated educations, criminal charges and prison.
At the same time, parents said their exposure to the police tactics - some have seen police beatings or been hit with non-lethal projectiles themselves - had made them more sympathetic to their children's choices to resist. Many said they came out simply to be close to their children inside the campus.
At a news conference on Tuesday, the parents made pleas to the Hong Kong authorities, questioning the uncompromising language that has become standard in the city's political impasse. Several criticised the authorities for having labelled everyone on campus as rioters.
For months, Hong Kong's police and government and China's state news media have used the term "rioter" to describe both peaceful and violent protesters.
"Why should all the students inside be charged with rioting no matter what role they played? What kind of logic is this?" said Ms Chu Chan, a 50-year-old warehouse worker.
Her son had remained on campus because he feared a rioting charge that could carry a 10-year prison sentence. As of Tuesday afternoon, he was still on campus.
"When I heard he was inside PolyU, I began shivering," she said. "I started to blame him, but then I remembered that he was probably feeling more helpless than me inside. I cannot condemn him."
The protests have also caused familial strife. Ms Eva Lau, a 51-year-old businesswoman, said that while she had attended peaceful marches, she disagreed with her 22-year-old son over his attendance at protests that descend into violence and vandalism.
Still, she said she had been thinking of rejoining the protests. "I am against all violence, even from the kids," she said. "But now I can see that they are being strategic in order to fight authoritarianism."
