Hong Kong police arrest six men over Yuen Long rampage by weapon-wielding mob, after unprecedented night of violence following extradition protests
- Arrests are first in connection with bloody attacks, in wake of accusations of slow police response on Sunday night
- Dozens more suspects on radar including members of notorious triad gangs, say police
Six men were arrested on Monday night as Hong Kong police began hunting down the mob responsible for an unprecedented rampage at a train station in the northern town of Yuen Long that left 45 people injured the night before.
Sources told the Post more than 100 men in white T-shirts were involved in Sunday night’s bloody violence, including members of the notorious 14K and Wo Shing Wo triad gangs.
The six men – arrested for unlawful assembly – were aged 24-54. Some of them had triad backgrounds, while others were drivers, hawkers, renovation workers or unemployed.
Police swooped on the men at their homes in the Yuen Long and Tin Shui Wai areas on Monday evening as they moved on those suspected of taking part in Sunday’s rampage.
In a press briefing late on Monday, Senior Superintendent Chan Tin-chu, of the New Territories North regional headquarters, said they identified several individuals who had joined the attack from security camera footage, online videos, and other intelligence.
Chan, who said other people could still be arrested, said the motives behind the violence had yet to be established, adding those arrested could still face other charges.
Police chief defends ‘late’ force response to mob violence in Yuen Long
Usually bustling Yuen Long became a ghost town on Monday, with businesses closed and streets deserted, amid rumours and fears of more violence.
Office director Wang Zhimin warned that the protesters had challenged the bottom line of the “one country, two systems” governing principle for Hong Kong by pelting the building with eggs and using black paintballs to vandalise the symbol of Beijing’s presence in the city.
“They have damaged the spirit of the rule of law in Hong Kong … and seriously hurt the feelings of all Chinese people, including 7 million Hongkongers,” Wang said.
While Wang did not mention the Yuen Long violence, business and media groups, social workers, Catholic leaders, district councillors, lawmakers and Lam’s top advisers were united in criticising the perpetrators.
Deploring both the siege of the liaison office and the Yuen Long mayhem, the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce for the first time joined calls for Lam to formally withdraw the bill and set up an independent commission of inquiry to look into the facts surrounding the continuing protest crisis.
But Executive Council heavyweights Bernard Chan and Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee insisted there was no need for such an inquiry, backing the government’s unwillingness to question the conduct of the city’s police force in dealing with the protests.
Reflecting diminished confidence in the law-and-order situation, US consumer tech giant Apple closed all five of its retail stores in Hong Kong in the afternoon to allow staff to go home early.
Police chief defends ‘late’ force response to mob violence in Yuen Long
While police said they had no evidence of imminent violence in Yuen Long, stores remained closed in the upmarket Yoho mall, next to the scene of Sunday night’s chaos, and key shopping zones such as Yuen Long Plaza, the Yuen Long section of Castle Peak Road and Fau Tsoi Street.
“We are closing for the day because the situation is getting dangerous,” a cashier at a restaurant said. “We will lose tens of thousands of dollars in business for the day.”
It was a similar scene in Tuen Mun, a 15-minute drive from Yuen Long, where shops along the town’s busiest street and wet market closed early in the afternoon amid persistent rumours of trouble to come.
The city’s leader, flanked by her full team of 16 ministers as well as Commissioner of Police Stephen Lo Wai-chung, held a grim-faced press conference to denounce Sunday night’s violence, starting with what happened at the liaison office.
Police to raid Yuen Long thugs including senior triads over attacks on protesters
“The government strongly condemns the protesters who defaced the national emblem outside the building. They blatantly challenged China’s national sovereignty … and angered the whole city,” she said.
She also hit out at those behind the Yuen Long attack, saying: “Shocking violence took place in Yuen Long, and the government will also investigate that and follow up in accordance with the law.”
Asked if she could still govern Hong Kong when defenceless citizens were being brutalised in public by suspected gangsters, Lam replied: “My team and I are here to show that while some of our work was not done properly … my colleagues and I have been making efforts to identify the root causes of this discontent.”
Also questioned about her focus on the defacing of the Chinese emblem at the liaison office above the Yuen Long attacks, Lam said: “Hong Kong’s status as a commercial and financial centre, and the protection of residents’ daily lives, are very important, but … it is of utmost importance for Hong Kong to continue to successfully implement ‘one country, two systems’.”
She promised a full investigation into the train station attacks, decrying the lawlessness and offering her sympathies to the injured.
“Violence is not a solution to any problem. Violence will only breed more violence,” she said.
Pro-Beijing lawmakers also condemned the protest outside the liaison office before criticising the Yuen Long attacks, while opposition pan-democrats accused police of “colluding” with triad gangsters and deliberately letting them terrorise citizens.
Responding to fierce criticism for failing to stop the rampaging mob, the police commissioner explained that the first responders were two officers who did not take action because the odds were overwhelming, and manpower in the district was tied up dealing with other emergencies.
Mainland China sentiment on protests ‘may spur tougher line on Hong Kong’
Lo also pointed out that many officers had been deployed to Hong Kong Island, where riot police on Sunday night used tear gas and rubber bullets to drive thousands of protesters off the roads they had taken over.
Anti-government protests broke out in Hong Kong last month after Lam refused to fully withdraw the extradition bill, which would have allowed the transfer of suspects to other jurisdictions including mainland China. Lam first suspended the bill, then declared it “dead” on July 9.
Reporting by Tony Cheung, Clifford Lo, Christy Leung, Phila Siu, Sum Lok-kei, Victor Ting, Elizabeth Cheung, Denise Tsang, Su Xinqi, Alvin Lum and Danny Mok