On the evening of 21 July , during the �20 Hong Kong protests , a mob attack occurred in Yuen Long , a town in the New Territories. Despite thousands of reports to the emergency hotline , [18] the police only arrived 39 minutes after the attacks and one minute after the mob had left the station. The police force's inaction, as well as mounting evidence of corruption and misconduct by the Hong Kong police, led some citizens to accuse the police of collusion with the mob, failing in their duty to protect the public.
In Hong Kong it has been named the incident , after the date of 21 July. Protests against the controversial extradition bill had been going on since March. Recent demonstrations had turned into clashes.
On the one hand, government supporters who favoured the extradition bill praised police as defenders of law and order. On the other hand, there is also the increase of reports alleging that the police have adopted violent strategies against the protesters. On the evening of 16 July, it was reported that some local Fugitive Offenders Bill protestors had held a public screening of video clips on the alleged police brutality in public order events at the Fung Yau Street North Sitting-out Area.
In response, online posts urged Yuen Long residents to protect their homeland and to expel protesters, with warnings of potential violence against protesters. Many protestors, however, did not stop at the designated end point at Luard Road in Wan Chai, and continued to walk in the direction of Sheung Wan arriving at the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong close to pm. According to the police, the police force was mainly focused on the public procession on Hong Kong Island, while Yuen Long was manned on a "skeleton" basis.
In the evening, assailants wearing white shirts and armed with Boat Building Companies In Cape Town List iron bars and wooden clubs gathered in Yuen Long. At around 10 pm, these assailants started indiscriminately attacking people and cars on the street.
They were reportedly targeting those wearing black, the dress code for the democracy rally on Hong Kong Island, but also attacked journalists and bystanders.
At around pm, about a hundred white-shirted assailants appeared at Yuen Long railway station and attacked commuters in the concourse indiscriminately, on the platform and inside train compartments. Citizens made calls to the emergency hotline upon seeing the armed group assembling at around pm, and an MTR spokesman said the first call by the MTR to the police was made at around pm, but police officers arrived more than three hours after initial calls for help were made.
Overnight, the police set up a perimeter outside Nam Pin Wai Village. Riot police attempted to enter but retreated back to perimeter as the white shirt mob threw water bottles. Half a dozen of white shirt thugs with metal rods in hands came forward and intimidated reporters, two riot police chatted with two of them and patted one on the shoulder before letting them go. Police then entered the village, brought a white shirt man away later stated he was not arrested. Around am, the white shirt mob started leaving by either drove away or walked around the police's perimeter, none was stopped or questioned by the police.
An MTR spokesman said workers at the station saw disputes taking place at about pm and immediately contacted police within two minutes. Upon arrival, police were surrounded by dozens of angry residents and protesters who accused police of deliberately retreating after being called to the scene for the first assault.
Police Commander Li Hon-man, who was interviewed at the scene by journalists, was asked why police had arrived late. He was recorded on video saying "I don't know if we were late" and claimed to not have looked at his watch. Police said later that dealing with the concurrent anti-government protests on Hong Kong Island had stretched their resources. Yuen Long District Council members including Zachary Wong and Johnny Mak had alerted the police on July 20 after they heard rumors from rural groups that a potential triad attack was about to take place.
The police responded by saying that they were also alerted by the news and would deploy sufficient manpower to deal with the situation. Meanwhile, leaked videos show that two uniformed police officers had arrived on the scene but then turned away. Many also criticised the fact that police stations in the vicinity of the Yuen Long attacks shut their doors, despite a large group of residents who were there to report crimes.
Police replied that the shut-down was for safety reasons due to large groups of protesters surrounding the stations. After blocking entrances to the area for more than three hours, the police made no arrests. Six men were arrested on 22 July On 26 August, two men were charged and held without bail in relation to the Yuen Long attacks.
Of the 30 people who have so far been arrested, some of whom have links to organised crime syndicates, only four individuals have been charged as suspects. Court hearings were scheduled to begin on 25 October. Pro-democratic lawmaker Eddie Chu , representing New Territories West, stated: "Police didn't show up while thugs rampaged through the station and attacked Yuen Long residents indiscriminately last night," stating that this meant there was "clear collusion between police and the gangs.
Triad gangsters were previously linked to attacks on democracy activists in Mong Kok during the Umbrella Movement. Stephen S. Char, barrister and former Chief Investigator of the Independent Commission Against Corruption , indicated that intentional negligence by police officers who refused to offer public services might have committed the offence of misconduct in public office under the common law.
In various videos posted online, it was observed that Junius Ho , a Hong Kong politician and a member of the Legislative Council , greeted a group of white-clothed group men, shaking their hands and calling them "heroes", giving them thumbs-up and saying to them "thank you for your hard work.
Ho Boat Building Companies In Durban Movies later explained that he lived in Yuen Long and was merely passing by after dinner and agreed to greet one of his supporters who requested to take photos with him. However, he also defended the mob at a press Building A Houseboat In Heaven Yuen conference by saying that the incidents were a "normal reaction to protesters who brought violence to the peaceful community after they stormed the liaison office" and also praised them for "safeguarding" their district.
The Law Society , of which Ho was once president, said it had received "quite a number of complaints" and is "seriously looking into" calls for disciplinary action against Ho and "conducting reviews on relevant complaints, and will pass the matter to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal if necessary. A number of student bodies and alumni associations had openly condemned both his suspected support of the attack, and what they described as his hate speech which had damaged the image of Lingnan University.
The University issued a statement afterwards, in which it denied that there was any connection between the stance of University and the actions of Ho. The statement also highlighted the University's respect for freedom of speech. Many companies allowed employees who live in the districts to leave work early that day.
Junius Ho's office in Tsuen Wan was vandalised by the protesters after the attack. A glass partition was broken, as well as leaving memo that "suggested a link between the violent gangs that carried out the attack the previous day and the police force".
A group of unknown also vandalised the graves of his parents in Tuen Mun , [80] [81] vandals also left graffiti with words such as "official-triad collusion" [80] and " Shing Wo " a triad near the graves, fuelling rumours regarding the background of the vandals. A news conference was held on 24 July by six people who were attacked and had decided to come forward with their stories. Several people in the group, including lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, stated they may appeal for financial compensation of damages in a court of law and file suite against the police and the MTR Corporation.
Lam also said that his political party would assist any others who wish to press charges and seek redress. Many protesters marched on Castle Peak Road.
The police fired tear gas in the evening, including near residential areas. In the protest, a passenger car near Nam Pin Wai was vandalised by the protesters. On 21 August , thousands of demonstrators staged a sit-in protest at Yuen Long station to demand justice and to remember the victims of the mob attacks that had occurred exactly one month prior on 21 July.
While the police and the government initially recognised that the incident was "violent" and "shocking", as the attackers assaulted the commuters inside the Yuen Long MTR station, the police attempted to reshape the narrative in their favour over the following year. The police force refused to apologise for its slow response, despite recognising that the police's response that day had failed to live up to the public's expectations. After the retirement of Stephen Lo , the new police commissioner, Chris Tang , began to give a completely different account, saying that the incident only became heated when lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting arrived at the station.
The police's account aligned with that of Junius Ho's and pro-Beijing group's accusation that Lam's appearance "stirred up" the conflict and eventually caused a "fight".
Superintendent Kong Wing-cheung later echoed Tang's statement, saying that the attack started because of "a group" has led the protesters to Yuen Long, though he later backtracked by saying that it was only his "personal observation". The Independent Police Complaints Council , which was controlled by pro-Beijing individuals, concluded the Yuen Long attack had been a "gang fight".
However, according to the footage recorded that day, the white-clad attackers had already congregated and attacked pedestrians outside Yuen Long station before Lam had even arrived. Following the incident, he required 18 stitches for a mouth wound.
Lawyer Building A Houseboat Out Of A Pontoon Boat Zip Antony Dapiran described the police's statement as " gaslighting of the highest order". Gwyneth Ho , a former Stand News reporter who was assaulted by one of the white-clad men while livestreaming during the attack, added that any attempt by the police to distort the facts would be futile because the event was among the most live-streamed incidents of , and videos had already been widely circulated on the Internet. The police failed to arrest the perpetrators adequately and promptly following the attack.
The role of Junius Ho in the attack was never investigated, and the police did not invite the victims of the attacks to identify the suspects. The Yuen Long attack was widely considered to be the turning point of the protests, as the police's inadequate response and alleged collusion with the triads crippled people's confidence in the police and turned a lot of citizens who were politically neutral or apathetic against the police. Anthony Chau Tin-hang is the lead prosecutor, and in February , judge Eddie Yip expressed frustration accusing of Chau glossing over important facts, such as who started the attacks.
Hong Kong police arrested Choy Yuk-ling also called also Bao Choy , [] a freelance journalist who filmed a documentary about the mob attack on pro-democracy protesters for Radio Television Hong Kong RTHK was arrested by police on the evening of 3 November, charged with misusing a government vehicle licensing database and making false statements to obtain information and records about car owners. Police dismissed allegations that the arrest was an attack on press freedom.
I don't think there is any benefit to the Hong Kong public. Several politicians such as Kenneth Leung , [9] [] Roy Kwong [] and other public figures [] [] [] condemned the incident as a terrorist attack. Hong Kong Economic Times compared the attack with two terrorist attacks in Mainland China in , suggesting the Yuen Long attack may qualify as a terrorist attack according to the Mainland law.
Parties from both factions of the Legislative Council LegCo , condemned the violence of the attack. Pro-democratic councillors signed a petition to condemn the negligence of the police in allowing suspected triads to become enforcers of their own rules, [] while the pro-Beijing DAB condemned the violent incident and "demanded that the police follow up on [the attack] seriously".
The injured, as well as LegCo Councillors Lam Cheuk-ting who was also injured in the attack , [10] [] James Tien , [10] and a number of pro-democratic councillors [9] accused the mob of being members of triad gangs. The police also believed that some of the suspects arrested on 22 July "had triad backgrounds". Some politicians, such as Zachary Wong , Councillor of the Yuen Long District Council , accused the mob of being under the influence of the Beijing central government, citing the opinion of a Liaison Office official in an inauguration event of Shap Pat Heung Rural Committee days earlier.
Journalists' associations condemned the attacks on journalists as "a severe infringement of press freedom". Arthur Shek Kang Chuen [ zh ] , Vice-editor-in-chief of Hong Kong Economic Times and one of the executive directors of its publisher Hong Kong Economic Times Holdings , resigned on 23 July after retracting his personal opinion on encouraging the use of violence on anti-bill protesters; he expressed the opinion during an event supporting police on 20 July, a day before the attack.
There was backlash on 22 July when 30 protesters demonstrated at Yuen Long police station to condemn the attacks, the delayed police response, and the alleged collusion between police and triad gangs. Hundreds of social workers then marched to the same police station to report the violence, hand over criminal evidence and file complaints against the police. On 2 August, Labour Party representatives held a protest outside the Government offices demanding that Junius Ho be stripped of his title as a Justice of the Peace.
Along with a petition of 20, signatures, the Labour Party chairman said Ho was unfit to hold the position as he had incited others to use violence.
The government condemned the attacks in a statement released after midnight local time. Chief Executive Carrie Lam held a media session at 3 pm on 22 July , [] first condemning protesters for besieging the Liaison Office in Sheung Wan the night before. In addressing why she prioritised the liaison office incident before the Yuen Long mob attack in her remarks, Lam said: "It's important that Hong Kong citizens' daily lives are protected, but I believe all citizens will agree that the successful implementation of one country, two systems is Lam did not directly address the media's questions about the alleged delayed response by police to calls for help.
In a Facebook post, he urged Lam to resign for what happened in Yuen Long that night. On 26 July, Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung apologised to citizens and admitted that the police department's response fell short of public expectations. Shortly after the apology, images of printed statements accompanied by warrant cards circulated on-line from dissenting police officers, questioning the need to apologise and calling Cheung an "enemy of the police.
The pro-democracy camp won a landslide victory in the Hong Kong local elections , held later in the year. The Yuen Long District Council , previously dominated by pro-government councillors, also swung pro-democratic, with democrats taking 33 of the 39 elected seats and gaining control of the seat council. The new council term commenced on 1 January
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