A peaceful protest against a proposed extradition bill in Hong Kong on Sunday descended into chaos and bloodshed after masked thugs in white T-shirts boarded a train and began attacking passengers at Yuen Long MTR Station. Scenes filmed on smartphones, later widely shared on social media, are redolent of a medieval battle, with assailants brandishing what appeared to be bamboo batons.
Photographs showed scores of people severely injured, including multiple lacerations to backs and head injuries. Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority yesterday reported 45 people were injured, with one person in critical condition.
Caught in the violence was Democratic Party Legislator Lam Cheuk-ting (林卓廷), who received 18 stitches in a mouth wound, while a female journalist working for the online Standnews was left bleeding after allegedly being hit on the back of the head.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) should immediately commission an independent investigation to get the bottom of who was responsible for the unprovoked violence.
One angle that investigators should consider is whether these attacks are a “united front” tactic by the Chinese authorities, using intimidation to sow division and fear to deter people from participating in marches. There are a number of reasons to be suspicious:
First, the attack appears to have been timed to coincide with protesters returning from a march in the middle of the morning on Sunday. Video showed assailants apparently singling out people dressed in black — the color worn by marchers — in the station and on streets nearby.
Second, there are numerous accounts from mainland China of the central government using such tactics to intimidate human rights advocates and break up protests by factory workers, while corrupt local governments frequently use hired thugs to force farmers off their land so that it can be sold to developers. Hong Kong non-governmental organization the Civil Human Rights Front yesterday said in a statement that “certain powerful authorities” have been using “thugs” to attack protesters since the 2014 “Umbrella movement.”
Third, what possible motivation could there be for a well-organized gang to carry out an attack on members of the public, apparently focused on returning marchers? While the frequent protests have undoubtedly caused substantial disruption to Hong Kong, the actions of the masked assailants are hardly the behavior of disgruntled residents lashing out because of the inconvenience and disruption to the economy in the past few weeks. What other explanation is there, other than that they were hired thugs — possibly gang members — employed by China’s security apparatus to do Beijing’s dirty work?
Many Hong Kongers are accusing the police of failing to respond to calls for help once the attacks started, while also criticizing the unnecessary deployment of tear gas against protesters at another location.
The police at a news conference later yesterday said that a patrol van was dispatched to the MTR station immediately after calls were received, but the officers were unable to handle the crowd of approximately 100 people and had to call for backup.
The lackluster response might be more ineptitude than conspiracy, but the actions of the police should also be fully investigated.
Lam’s administration needs to act swiftly and decisively to ensure that Hong Kongers can continue to exercise their right to peaceful protest without fearing for their lives.
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