Opinion | What China’s leaders and angry Hong Kong protesters agree on: Carrie Lam must clean up her own mess

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s tears and her announcement of the death of the extradition bill have failed to put an end to the political turmoil in Hong Kong, which has only escalated. Although the number of protesters who attended the march on July 21 dropped to 430,000, the rally was followed by clashes between the police and protesters. The police again fired tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray to disperse the much smaller crowd of protesters.

However, that night, the public’s attention quickly moved to Yuen Long where local thugs in white T-shirts, who claimed to be protecting their home, gathered outside the MTR station, holding wooden sticks and metal bars, waiting to beat protesters returning from the anti-extradition bill march. They ended up brutally attacking people in the station and even inside a train.

Some people reported seeing uniformed police officers turning a blind eye to the men in white T-shirts fleeing the station after the attack. The police stations in both Yuen Long and Tin Shui Wai were closed, making it impossible for the public to lodge formal complaints. The emergency services hotline for the area and the landlines of both police stations were jammed. It appeared to the public that the triads had taken over Yuen Long.

According to international relations scholar Simon Shen Xu-hui, by international standards, the violence in Yuen Long could be characterised as a terrorist attack. A day after the incident, while Lam was holding a press conference with her top officials, rumours were rife that triads had assigned men to target young people in black T-shirts. Not only was Yuen Long a ghost town , fear spread across the Northern New Territories to Tin Shui Wai, Sheung Shui and Tuen Mun, with many businesses downing their shutters.

Despite police denials, there have long been suspicions that the police force covers for the triads. Police failure to act in time against the mob in Yuen Long station has appalled Hongkongers. The force has almost completely lost public goodwill. The harsh treatment of extradition bill protesters stands in sharp contrast to the tolerance of the mob in Yuen Long.