All schools to be closed on Thursday after 'attacks'

The government had come under fire for not closing schools on Wednesday as well. File photo: RTHK

The Education Bureau has announced that all of the city's schools will be closed on Thursday for safety reasons, adding that some have suffered "despicable attacks".



Despite classes being cancelled at all primaries, secondaries, kindergartens and special schools, their premises should remain open, officials said, in case some children have nowhere else to go.



It added that children should stay at home if possible, and not join any "illegal activities".



A spokesman for the bureau said society has been widely damaged by "violent protesters" in recent days, and it's despicable that some schools have been threatened and their buses attacked.



A statement did not elaborate on where these "attacks" took place, or who the perpetrators were.



The bureau said it strongly condemns such acts, adding they they had endangered the safety of students and deprived them of their right to education.



It also criticised some teachers' unions – without giving names – accusing them of shifting the blame over the city's turmoil onto the police and failing to condemn the actions of protesters.



The bureau said this approach goes against the professional ethics of educators.



Earlier in the day, both the pro-Beijing Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers and the pro-democracy Professional Teachers' Union had criticised the government's failure to cancel classes on Wednesday, given the transport disruption and chaos on the city's streets.



Lectures at several universities have been cancelled over the past few days due to the growing unrest.