Hong Kong protests: district council sets up task force to investigate mob attack at Yuen Long MTR station
- Council meets for first time since elections in November left pan-democrats dominant
- Armed men attacked passengers and protesters inside railway station on July 21
Opposition politicians in Hong Kong have created a task force to look into a mob attack on passengers and protesters at a metro station in July, in their first meeting since local elections last year.
Yuen Long District Council, which is now dominated by pro-democracy parties, set up the group on Tuesday to look into the incident, during which a mob of armed men wearing white T-shirts attacked people inside the town’s MTR station.
However, police opted not to attend the meeting, despite being invited, drawing an angry response from pan-democrat councillors, who accused the force of showing “zero respect” to the council. Anti-government protesters, who were among those attacked, have accused police of being slow to respond to the incident.
“It is ridiculous,” the Democratic Party’s Roy Kwong Chun-yu said. “The police’s absence demonstrates their zero respect – if not disregard – for the district council, which formally requested their attendance.”
In a written statement, police said 37 people had been arrested for their roles in the events of July 21, and seven of those had been charged with rioting.