ANGRY Sha Tau Kok villagers claim increased police activity in the area was the cause of last week's riot, which saw officers pelted with rocks and bottles after they tried to arrest a resident suspected of running an illegal gambling syndicate.
The villagers say they were also angry with a new ruling which required them to travel to Fanling to apply for border permits for their friends and relatives to visit them. Previously they could apply for permits in their own village.
One villager who only identified himself as Mr So said the new ruling, enforced in July, was aimed at curbing misuse of the permits and had made smuggling activities in the area much more difficult. The ruling was adopted after a border-area midnight to 4 am curfew - in effect since 1952 to combat gun-running during the Korean War and to control illegal immigration - was lifted on August 1.
'Things changed a lot after the curfew was lifted. Before, police were more tolerant because of the special circumstances in the area,' said Mr So, who is known by villagers as 'Big Brother'.
'We did not want this [clash] to happen but the villagers were really angry about the operation on Monday; we lost a lot of money,' he said. 'When they saw a villager being beaten their anger turned to violence.' On October 3, the police undertook an operation to locate 300 kilograms of pork believed to have been smuggled over the border.
'About 30 trucks were found to be involved in this kind of pork smuggling,' said Sha Tau Kok Police Divisional Commander John Fuller. 'We believe a lot of people are involved and the confiscation of their smuggled goods would mean a big loss in revenue for them.