One leader of a student-led Hong Kong pro-democracy delegation to Australia says the city's residents fear it may become "another Tiananmen Square" as continued unrest in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory ticks over into its third month.

Key points: The protesters will meet with Hongkonger international students in Melbourne

The protesters will meet with Hongkonger international students in Melbourne The visit follows clashes at Australian universities over the Hong Kong protests

The visit follows clashes at Australian universities over the Hong Kong protests The delegation is hoping to bolster international support for the demonstrators

The former British colony has been seething with unrest following the decision by the city's leader to introduce a controversial extradition bill that would have allowed Beijing to arrest political dissidents in Hong Kong.

While the bill has since been suspended, the demonstrations have voiced broader existential concerns about the future of the city's autonomy under Chinese communist rule in addition to calls to investigate alleged acts of police brutality against protesters.

Sunny Cheung, 23, a student at Hong Kong University and pro-democracy protest leader in Australia, told the ABC that any attempt to launch a Tiananmen Square-style crackdown on student protesters would be counter-intuitive.

"If Beijing tried to send in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to crack down on Hong Kong, they would lose [it] immediately as an international financial hub," Mr Cheung said.

Mr Cheung was referring to China's 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, where over 200,000 PLA troops descended on demonstrators to violently quash demonstrations that had been running for months.

Estimates of the death toll have ranged from a few hundred to several thousand people, and officially Beijing claimed that only 241 people had been killed.

Images of troops and military vehicles amassing in the border city of Shenzen have triggered fears of a similar-style crackdown among Hongkongers and international observers.

Despite this, Mr Cheung told the ABC that he and others were "not scared" of the PLA.

But he alleged that the former British colony had already lost a high degree of autonomy following a leaked recording of the territory's Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, saying that she would resign if she had a choice.

"We can observe that the Chief Executive did not care about the Hong Kong citizen's voice and concerns," he said.

"Only the Beijing Government is her master."

Students to drive international support for Hong Kong

The sizeable portion of Hong Kong's protesters have been the city's youth. ( AP: Vincent Yu )

Mr Cheung forms part of a group of students representing the Hong Kong Higher Institutions International Affairs Delegation (IAD) — a lobby group founded by the student unions of Hong Kong's universities.

He and others will meet with international students from Hong Kong studying at Melbourne universities this week.

Tensions between Hong Kong and mainland Chinese students on Australian campuses have spiked in the wake of the pro-democracy protests, resulting in heated confrontations at universities in Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra.

A pro-China poster with a death threat was also put on the "Lennon Wall" in the main foyer at the University of Technology Sydney.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 50 seconds 50 s Students clash over their views on China at the University of Queensland

Some protests in cities across Australia have become violent, with scuffles breaking out at a demonstration in Melbourne last month where a speaker was also pushed onto an ABC News cameraman.

Mr Cheung told the ABC the student unions were concerned about the safety of Hongkonger international students in Australia following the incidents.

"We want to come here and give them support, and also to urge the Australian Government to try to use a more assertive attitude to protect our students here in Australia," he said.

He added that the Government should do more to "protect the freedom of speech at campuses to avoid potential attacks".

IAD has recently shifted its focus towards garnering international support for the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.

"In order to counter Chinese influence all over the world we should find allies with every free-world government," Mr Cheung said.

The group held an event in Hong Kong last month with more than 60,000 participants, urging more foreign governments to express support for the demonstrators.

The ABC understands Mr Cheung and other IAD members will meet with some federal politicians in Canberra this week.

Protests on the streets of Hong Kong have continued for 13 consecutive weeks. ( AP: Vincent Yu )

Mr Cheung said any move by China to quell the protests by force would have far-reaching ramifications, especially in Australia.

"We have more than 100,000 Australians in Hong Kong, and anything happening there can result in a big impact to the whole world," he said.

The group intends to fly to more countries to lobby politicians, and Mr Cheung is planning to give a speech at the UK Parliament, and later in the US, as part of efforts to keep attention on Hong Kong.

Dissidents to speak in Melbourne

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 6 minutes 2 seconds 6 m 'I thought it was quite shocking': Denise Ho on the NGV refusing to host a pro-democracy talk

The students will also be attending a seminar featuring artist Badiucao and the Canto-pop singer and pro-democracy activist Denise Ho, which will go ahead at the Melbourne City Conference Centre on Wednesday, after the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) last week said it could not host the event.

The panel discussion is about the situation in Hong Kong and the city's future, and will also include author and academic Clive Hamilton, whose 2018 book Silent Invasion warned about growing Chinese Government influence in Australia.

The NGV said it "was unable to accommodate the security and logistics required to book this event with short notice", however Badiucao and Ho have suggested the decision was due to fear of reprisal from Beijing.

The gallery is currently exhibiting several Terracotta Warriors on loan from China. It said it supported artists' rights to express a range of political viewpoints.

"I thought it was quite shocking," Ho told the ABC's The World program last week.

"That is a kind of self-censorship that is happening not only in Melbourne, not only in Hong Kong, but worldwide, where we see these different institutions and organisations … starting to keep a distance with all these protests from Hongkongers."

The pro-democracy movement is calling on Hong Kong's chief executive Carrie Lam to resign. ( AP: Jae C Hong )

The protests in Hong Kong were initially sparked by a proposed extradition bill that would have paved the way for Hongkongers to face trial in front of mainland Chinese courts, which critics say are not independent from the Government.

While that bill has since been suspended, pro-democracy demonstrators are now calling for the resignation of Hong Kong's chief executive Carrie Lam and an investigation into the use of force by police during the protests among other objectives.