China: Rule cannot be challenged
At least 45 injured in attacks at subway stop
HONG KONG — An overnight attack by white-clad assailants apparently targeting pro-democracy demonstrators raised tensions to new levels in Hong Kong on Monday as China harshly criticized the weekend demonstration, saying “central authority cannot be challenged.”
The Chinese rebuke came after its Hong Kong office was targeted Sunday night by protesters who pelted it with eggs and spray-painted its walls. It made no mention of the violent attack hours later at a subway station by men wielding iron pipes and wooden poles as they beat up people clad in the pro-democracy movement’s black shirts. Dozens were injured.
The attack on China’s Liaison Office was an escalation of the weekslong protests, during which demonstrators besieged Hong Kong’s legislature and police headquarters but did not direct their ire at China itself. It came after more than 100,000 people marched through the city to demand democracy and an investigation into the use of force by police to disperse crowds at protests.
As demonstrators made their way home, a gang of men descended on a group of them at a subway station. Video of the attack in Hong Kong’s Yuen Long neighborhood showed the protesters being beaten by the assailants as they retreated into the trains, intimidated by the gangs of men waiting for them outside the turnstiles. The attackers then entered the trains and beat the people inside as they tried to defend themselves with umbrellas.
At least 45 people were injured, and 15 remained hospitalized Monday afternoon, including one man in critical condition, the Hospital Authority said.
Subway passengers filmed by The Stand News and ICABLE angrily accused police officers of not intervening to protect the demonstrators, who have been critical of the police use of force.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said Monday that allegations that police had colluded with the assailants were “unfounded.”
The Sunday night assault on Beijing’s Hong Kong Liaison Office touched a raw nerve in China. China’s national emblem, which hangs on the front of the building, was splattered with black ink. It was replaced by a new one within hours.