Protesters stay holed up in Hong Kong campus

Protesters holed up in a Hong Kong university surrounded by riot police are pondering their fate in the battered campus.

There are fewer than 100 of them remaining on the site.

Some are hiding, and others have told Reuters they were not holding out for a showdown with police, but that they're innocent - and therefore desperately searching for ways to escape.

One activist hoped her fellow protesters would stand their ground.

(SOUNDBITE) (Cantonese) 20-YEAR-OLD STUDENT, MICHELLE, SAYING:

"No matter how the police are threatening us outside and doing a lot of things to create (shock) horror, such as sending plain clothes on campus, using loudspeakers shouting at us, playing surrender songs every day. (But) I hope that everyone can continue to be strong."

Rubbish has piled up around the campus from trash to debris from homemade petrol bombs.

Many protesters have abandoned their equipment like gas masks and umbrellas.

The university itself is badly damaged.

Rooms are vandalized and windows are shattered, but electricity and water are still functioning.

Hong Kong has seen a few days of relative calm across the city ahead of District Council elections later this week.

The university is the last campus still occupied by activists, during a week that saw the most intense violence since the anti-government demonstrations escalated more than five months ago.