There are growing calls for the police to end their blockade of Polytechnic University after a three-hour search this morning involving more than a hundred people found no sign of protesters anywhere on the campus in Hung Hom.

A vice president of the university, Miranda Lou, said a team comprising of more than 100 staff, counsellors and medical workers had checked all rooms, on all floors.

A similar search on Tuesday found only one person.

Lou said she hopes the police will stop surrounding the campus so that staff can begin repairs as soon as possible.

She said many of the school’s facilities, like classrooms and laboratories, are badly damaged, and said it is “heartbreaking” that many of the university’s R&D programmes have been affected.

Education sector lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen echoed Lou’s calls, saying there is no longer any need for officers to continue their siege, which has lasted for a week and a half.

Democratic Party legislator Ted Hui also called on the police to retreat, adding that they should not enter the campus anytime soon to prevent the possibility of upsetting any protesters who may still be holed up inside.