HONG KONG  - A Hong Kong university campus under siege for more than a week was a deserted wasteland on Saturday (Nov 23), with a handful of protesters holed up in hidden refuges across the trashed grounds, as the city's focus turned to local elections.

The end of the siege at Polytechnic University on the Kowloon peninsula was approaching as some protesters desperately sought a way out and others vowed not to surrender, days after some of the worst violence since anti-government demonstrations escalated in June.