Court told Hong Kong police were tipped off 2 days early about potential trouble at Yuen Long MTR station during 2019 disturbances, but took no action
- Former Yuen Long District Council chairman tells riot trial of fellow district councillor that he alerted police to potential trouble at Yuen Long after villager’s warning
- Zachary Wong added he told police sergeant on same day he was alerted, but nothing was done
Hong Kong police were tipped off two days before a mob attack at Yuen Long railway station during the 2019 anti-government protests but did nothing to prevent it, a court has heard.
Zachary Wong Wai-yin, a former Yuen Long District Council chairman, told the court on Monday that he was warned by a villager on July 19 that year that some residents planned to drive outsiders away on the night of July 21. Wong said he told a police sergeant about the plot on the same day he received the warning.
He was speaking as a defence witness at the District Court trial of Lam Cheuk-ting, a former lawmaker and Sheung Shui district councillor, who has been charged with rioting.
Wong said he phoned the same sergeant twice between 9pm and 10pm on the night of the disturbances to plead for police backup after he learned white-shirted men were gathering in the district.
He added he called the officer a third time and told him that he and Lam planned to go to the MTR station.
“As a citizen and a district councillor serving Yuen Long for 33 years, I immediately notified the police about [the potential violence],” he said. “If police really did hope to stop it, they did not even have to deploy officers to the scene.
“Instead, a phone call to the chairman of [the rural committee] would do the job.”
Wong said he was “disappointed” by the force’s response as officers took a long time to arrive at the station and because no one contacted him after he gave the sergeant repeated warnings.