UPDATE 3-Hong Kong student sees snakes as campus holdouts risk sewer escapes

Some Hong Kong anti-government protesters trapped inside a Hong Kong university tried to flee through the sewers, where one student said she saw snakes, an escape route firemen ruled out on Wednesday by blocking the trapdoor into the system.

Reuters witnesses said fewer than 100 protesters remained inside the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, ring-fenced 24 hours a day by riot police and barricades after more than 1,000 were arrested since late on Monday. Some surrendered while others were grabbed in escape attempts that included trying to clamber down ropes to waiting motorbikes.

Some protesters, wearing waterproof boots and carrying torches, resurfaced inside the campus on Wednesday after unsuccessfully probing the sewers - where fast-rising water levels are also a hazard - for a way out during the night. It was unclear if any had managed to escape that way.

Firefighters, who the students let onto the campus, were in place to stop any further such attempts to flee, blocking the only entrance into the sewer system. "The sewer was very smelly, with many cockroaches, many snakes. Every step was very, very painful," said Bowie, 23, a student at Hong Kong University who was forced to turn back.

"And the flow of water was strong. Hong Kong is a very developed city. I’d never thought that one day I would need to hide in a sewer or escape through sewers to survive ... The most unforgettable feeling is fear when I was inside." She said she and friends were in the dirty water for about an hour, only to find they were no closer to escape.

"When we reached the end, we found we were still in the poly," she said. 5,000 ARRESTS

Police searched for any escapees during the night with spotlights, without resorting to the tear gas and rubber bullets, that marked clashes in recent days. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has called for a humane end to a siege that saw the most intense clashes since the protests escalated more than five months ago.

They also tightened security in the streets around the university, making them safe enough for a late Tuesday visit by the force's new commissioner, Chris Tang, at the end of his first day on the job. Tang earlier urged the support of all citizens to end the unrest triggered by fears that Beijing is stifling the former British colony's freedoms and extensive autonomy guaranteed in its handover to Chinese rule in 1997.

Tang is under pressure to restore police morale as well as public confidence in a force that has come in for widespread criticism for increasingly violent tactics to suppress the protests. Police deny accusations of using excessive force. The police quietly rolled out a new, harder-edged motto on Tang's first day, replacing "We Serve with Pride and Care" with "Serving Hong Kong with Honour, Duty, and Loyalty".

Police have made more than 5,000 arrests in connection with the protests since June. Chinese leaders say they are committed to the "one country, two systems" formula put in place in 1997 and have accused foreign countries, including Britain and the United States, of stirring up trouble.

In Washington, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the "Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act", which would require the secretary of state to certify at least once a year that Hong Kong retains enough autonomy to qualify for special U.S. trading consideration and would impose sanctions against officials responsible for rights violations. The bill must be reconciled with similar legislation approved by the House of Representatives. Senate aides said they expected it to move forward eventually as an amendment to a defense bill expected to pass Congress this year.

'BIG FIGHT' China's foreign ministry condemned the legislation, saying the United States should stop interfering in Hong Kong and Chinese affairs. The Hong Kong government expressed "deep regret" over it.

The unrest marks the most serious popular challenge to Chinese President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012. Some protesters emerged as the sun rose above the campus to express a range of feelings, from defiance to uncertainty.

They still have stocks of petrol bombs, bows and arrows, and other makeshift weapons after a weekend of fiery crashes. One protester practiced firing arrows at a campus tower while others considered hiding in the maze of campus buildings, as they said a teacher had advised them to do.

"I already know where I'll hide," a 19-year-old student, who gave his name only as Paul, said as he emerged to ask about breakfast in the canteen. "I have enough food for at least a week and then will see what happens."

Two protesters in body armor, wielding metal rods, were going to get some sleep after a night on guard, watching police movements outside. "We need some energy to get ready for the big fight. Now that there's not many of us left they may want to come in," said a former student named Marc, 26.

"We know this place, it's our home and it's a maze, and we have weapons. We're not going to give up now, it's too late for that." The university on the Kowloon peninsula is the last of five that protesters had occupied to use as bases from which to disrupt the city over the past 10 days, blocking the central Cross-Harbour Tunnel outside and other arteries.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)