This weekend, hundreds of people, mostly young people, occupied the campus. When police tried to storm the university, they were hit by fire bombs, bricks and arrows and instead surrounded the area.

A large number of protesters must have tried to escape the area, including by slipping down from bridges. Several people must have been arrested by pending police.

The university area is classified by police as a riot and riots are punishable by up to ten years in prison in Hong Kong. According to Lam, persons under the age of 18 are not at risk of immediate arrest, but they may still be prosecuted at a later date, the AP writes.

Lam: Don't need the help of Chinese troops

When asked by the Hong Kong leader if she would seek help from Chinese troops based in Hong Kong to end the five-month protests, she replied that her leadership remains confident that they can handle the situation on their own.

"We will use all means to continue to convince the remaining protesters to leave the campus as soon as possible so that this entire operation can be completed peacefully," Lam said Tuesday.