TAIPEI (DPA) - Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday (Nov 13) called on the international community to take action to stand by Hong Kong after a number of universities there were stormed by riot police the previous day.

"I want to call on the Hong Kong government to pull back just in time and not to respond to the people with violence," Ms Tsai wrote on Facebook.

Ms Tsai's comments came one day after Hong Kong police entered several university campuses, using tear gas to violently suppress pro-democracy protests, mainly involving students.

Ms Tsai said that a government would eventually lose the people's confidence when citizens get no police protection.

"The international community and people upholding values of democracy and freedom must take action and pay attention to the situation in Hong Kong, which is out of control," Ms Tsai said.

Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party's deputy secretary-general Lin Fei-fan on Wednesday said that Hong Kong is now "already a police city".

He condemned the Hong Kong police for turning university campuses into battlegrounds and conducting inappropriate arrests.

"The Hong Hong issue is an international one," Mr Lin told a news conference in Taipei.