Hong Kong metro gang attack was planned, says politician victim

A VICIOUS attack on pro-democracy protesters by suspected triad gangsters on Sunday night in a Hong Kong metro station was premeditated, a politician hurt in the incident has claimed. Lam Cheuk Ting, a Democratic Party politician, was cornered by thugs who used sticks to break his hand and inflict a facial gash that required 18 stitches as he tried to defend terrified commuters in Yuen Long station.

His claims will add pressure on Hong Kong’s police force, already under fire from a public shocked by the violence and angered by the authorities’ slow response. Mr Lam told The Daily Telegraph that anonymous internet warnings appeared “two or three days before the attack” that said it would be “dangerous if anyone has a black shirt and if they go to Yuen Long”. Black is the colour widely worn at Hong Kong’s recent mass protests.

Early that night, people leaving the station spotted hundreds of gangsters wearing white shirts and tried to call the police. “The police hotline was disconnected,” said Mr Lam.

He had been monitoring social media for developments. Shortly before 10pm, a video emerged of a young man under attack and Mr Lam rushed to the scene. “When I arrived, I was told a lady was injured because the gangsters used a baton to hit her head. There was so much blood on the floor,” he said.

The crowd tried to shelter inside but about 100 assailants smashed through the entrance and chased them on to a train, attacking everyone in sight.

Yesterday, a video emerged of the moment a woman who appeared to be pregnant was knocked unconscious and a female journalist recording events was pummelled to the ground.

Police said it received 24,000 calls in just three hours, RTHK reported, while seven men have now been arrested and blamed deployment delays on the force being overstretched. They strongly denounced accusations of collusion.