Hong Kong violence escalates

Fears of a police crackdown on university campuses are growing as protesters use increasingly aggressive tactics. Primary and secondary schools in the territory remain closed through Sunday.

A 70-year-old man died on Thursday night after being struck in the head, possibly by a thrown brick, though the details were murky. The government said he was hit by “hard objects hurled by masked rioters.” The police said separately that he appeared to have been attacked with a brick and was unconscious when he reached the hospital.

Recap: Thursday marked a change in the materials used on the ground, as black-clad activists, mostly students, set up elaborate roadblocks, built brick walls and practiced shooting firebombs from a giant slingshot. Some used chain saws to create barricades from trees.

On the ground: Mike Ives, our colleague in Hong Kong who covered the unrest into the wee hours, said , “The stakes are high in part because the protesters have been stockpiling makeshift weapons for days.”