Students armed with javelins and bows and arrows fought police at the Chinese University of Hong Kong yesterday as an official warned that the territory was “on the brink of total breakdown”.

The violent scenes, mirrored at other campuses in the city, reflected a continuing escalation in the disorder after a police officer shot a protester at close range on Monday and a man was doused with petrol and set on fire by demonstrators.

Students, angered by police encroachment on their campuses on Monday, set up barricades shortly after dawn yesterday. Police fired their first rounds of tear gas before 8am at the City University of Hong Kong.