Hong Kong City 2 Sep (ANA) - Thousands of secondary school and university students have boycotted classes in Hong Kong, in the latest stage of pro-democracy protests.

Organisers say 10,000 pupils from 200 secondary schools did not turn up for the first day for the new school year.

The student action comes on the same day as a call for a broad two-day strike and large rally.

Protests over the weekend saw some of the worst violence in weeks between protesters and police.

On Saturday, protesters threw petrol bombs, lit fires and attacked the city's parliament building while police used tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons and fired live warning shots.

Hong Kong is now entering its 14th successive week of demonstrations. 

The protests were sparked by changes to a law that would allow extradition to mainland China, but have since widened to include calls for an independent inquiry into police brutality and universal suffrage.

Early on Monday, activists disrupted train services at different stations causing major rush hour traffic delays. Services resumed later on Monday morning.

Secondary school students later gathered at Edinburgh Place in the city's central district.

"I am willing to take any disciplinary consequences," one student from a college in the district of Sham Shui Po told Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post.

Many of the students were wearing eye-patches to show their solidarity with one activist who during the earlier weeks of protests was injured in the eye in clashes with the police. 

The boycott was organised by local party Demosisto and several student groups. 

Images on social media also showed students forming human chains outside several secondary schools in the city.(ANA) 

FA/ANA/2 September 2019-----