With Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests growing more violent, South Korean students studying there are rushing back to their homeland. 

The Korean community in Hong Kong said Thursday that the protests have grown tenser around university campuses after a 22-year-old protester died last Friday after falling in a parking garage close to the scene of protests.

The community said many South Korean students studying in Hong Kong have returned to South Korea out of safety concerns. 

Some 16-hundred South Koreans are estimated to be studying in the University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, among other top universities. 

Amid the escalating violence, the Chinese University of Hong Kong ended the semester early while the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Hong Kong Baptist University have suspended all classes on campus and instead are providing classes online. Other universities have also temporarily closed this week. 

Foreign students from other countries are also rushing back to their homelands.