Police ‘stood by as gangsters beat up freedom fighters’
MASKED thugs beat up pro-democracy campaigners during a night of violence that left 45 people injured in Hong Kong.
Triad gangsters were feared to be behind the assaults in the Yuen Long area of the city.
Dozens of white-shirted attackers, armed with wooden rods and metal sticks, stormed Yuen Long MTR train station on Sunday night.
Local media said they targeted people dressed in black – the colour most protesters were wearing.
Twenty-two victims were in hospital last night, one in a critical condition.
The protesters were targeted after they returned from a rally in the heart of Hong Kong, the hospital authority said.
Tear gas and rubber bullets were fired by police during the rally and questions have been asked as to why officers were so slow to get to the train station in the aftermath of the violence.
Pro-democracy politician Claudia Mo said yesterday there was “more than apparent” involvement from pro-China triad gangs.
“What happened last night [on Sunday] doesn’t seem accidental in any way,” she said. “It’s all organised.”
Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam branded the attacks as “shocking” but said allegations police colluded with the thugs were unfounded. The government said in a statement: “This is absolutely unacceptable to Hong Kong as a society that observes the rule of law.
“The Government strongly condemns any violence and will seriously take enforcement actions.”
Mass protests have been going on for weeks over an extradition deal with mainland China, which the Hong Kong government has since suspended.
China was furious after its national emblem, which hangs on the front of the police HQ, was covered with black ink on Sunday.
The country’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office said: “These acts openly challenged the authority of the central government and touched the bottom line of the one-country-two-systems principle.”
Military commentator Yue Gang said Chinese troops would be sent to Hong Kong if necessary.
He said: “To deface the Chinese national emblem is like acting as an enemy to 1.3 billion Chinese people. They must be deterred.”