Triad gangster attack in Hong Kong after night of violent protests-lawmaker

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Triad gangster attack in Hong Kong after night of violent protests-lawmaker

 

An anti-extradition demonstrator runs away from tear gas, after a march to call for democratic reforms, in Hong Kong, China July 21, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

 

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong police on Monday defended their actions and the lack of arrests after opposition lawmakers said police had failed to protect a train full of anti-government protesters from a triad gangster attack on Sunday.

 

The attack came in a night of violence that opened new fronts in Hong Kong’s widening political crisis over an extradition bill to send people to China for trial.

 

Some politicians and activists have long linked Hong Kong’s shadowy network of triad criminal gangs to political intimidation and violence in recent years.

 

On Sunday night, men in white t-shirts, some armed with poles, flooded into the rural Yuen Long station and stormed a train, attacking passengers, according to footage taken by commuters and Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting.

 

Eye-witnesses said they appeared to target black-shirted passengers who had been at an anti-government march and the attack came after several thousand activists surrounded China’s representative office in the city, later clashing with police.

 

Lam, who was injured in the attack, said he was angry about a slow police response after he alerted them to the trouble, government-funded broadcaster RTHK reported.

 

Lam said it took police more than an hour to arrive after he alerted them and they had failed to protect the public, allowing the triads to run rampant. The party is now investigating.

 

“Is Hong Kong now allowing triads to do what they want, beating up people on the street with weapons?,” he asked reporters.

 

One government worker, aged 22, described chaotic scenes as people ran in disarray off the train, despite word that gangsters were attacking people on the street as well.

 

“People started to run in all directions, just avoiding the gangsters,” he said.

 

Police said early on Monday they had not made any arrests at the station or during a follow-up search of a nearby village but were still investigating.

 

Yau Nai-keung, Yuen Long assistant district police commander, told reporters that an initial police patrol had to wait for more reinforcements given a situation involving more than 100 people.

 

Groups of men in white were seen by eye-witnesses with poles and bamboo staves at a nearby village but Yau said police saw no weapons when they arrived.

 

“We can’t say you have a problem because you are dressed in white and we have to arrest you. We will treat them fairly no matter which camp they are in,” Yau said.

 

Hong Kong’s anti-triad police units in 2014 investigated the role of triad gangs attacking protesters on the streets of Mong Kok during the ‘Occupy’ pro-democracy demonstrations that shut down parts of the city for 79 days.

 

Police have yet to respond to Reuters’ questions whether they are specifically investigating triad involvement in Sunday’s violence.

 

POLICE FIRE RUBBER BULLETS

 

Hong Kong has been rocked by a series of sometimes violent protests for more than two months in its most serious crisis since Britain handed the Asian financial hub back to Chinese rule in 1997.

 

Protesters are demanding the full withdrawal of a bill to allow people to be extradited to mainland China for trial, where the courts are controlled by the Communist Party, fearing it would undermine Hong Kong’s judicial independence.

 

They are also demanding independent inquiries into the use of police force against protesters.

 

On Sunday police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse activists on the edge of Hong Kong’s glittering financial district after they had fled China’s Liaison Office, its main representative branch in the city.

 

The Chinese government, including office director Wang Zhimin, condemned the acts, which saw signs and a state symbol daubed with graffiti and eggs thrown against walls and windows.

 

Wang said that a damaged symbol had been replaced overnight.

 

The unrest in Hong Kong marks the greatest popular challenge to Chinese leader Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.

 

The Hospital Authority said 45 people were injured in the Yuen Long attack, with one in a critical condition. Some 13 people were injured after the clashes on Hong Kong island, one seriously, the authority said.

 

Some police had been injured in the clashes after protesters hurled bricks, smoke grenades and petrol bombs, said a police statement.

 

Reporting by Donny Kwok, James Pomfret, Felix Tam, Vimvam Tong and Greg Torode; Editing by Michael Perry.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-07-22

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[fvw53]

Hong Kong is since more than 20 years no longer the vital city for China to do trade and finance....and it will be brought sooner or later into the line wanted by the authorities in Beijing...that is the reality.

[Scott]

3 hours ago, fvw53 said:

Hong Kong is since more than 20 years no longer the vital city for China to do trade and finance....and it will be brought sooner or later into the line wanted by the authorities in Beijing...that is the reality.

I lived in HK for a number of years, prior to the handover.   Vibrant was the only word I can use to describe it.   The threat of the handover caused a great deal of anxiety among the local population, but I always felt HK would be reasonably safe.   It was the goose that kept laying the golden eggs.   As China has economically grown, HK has becomes less necessary economically.  

 

China does not tolerate social instability well at all.   The Tiananmen Square fiasco is pretty much a expected reaction to instability.   I hope this gets resolved.

 

As an aside, I haven't heard about the Triads for a long time.   I didn't know they were still a force to be reconed with.

 

[Johnnyngai]

12 hours ago, Scott said:

I lived in HK for a number of years, prior to the handover.   Vibrant was the only word I can use to describe it.   The threat of the handover caused a great deal of anxiety among the local population, but I always felt HK would be reasonably safe.   It was the goose that kept laying the golden eggs.   As China has economically grown, HK has becomes less necessary economically.  

 

China does not tolerate social instability well at all.   The Tiananmen Square fiasco is pretty much a expected reaction to instability.   I hope this gets resolved.

 

As an aside, I haven't heard about the Triads for a long time.   I didn't know they were still a force to be reconed with.

 

Those Triads look big and tall compare to other southern Chinese.  

I wonder who is paying them to beat for the highest bidder.   

 

[Scott]

5 minutes ago, Johnnyngai said:

Those Triads look big and tall compare to other southern Chinese.  

I wonder who is paying them to beat for the highest bidder.   

 

I something on the news that said they were believed to be sent by the Chinese gov't and they wore clothing with the flag of mainland China.   I can't give you a source because I wasn't paying close enough attention.  

 

I know the Triads in the past seemed to stay away from any thing having to do with the government, at least directly.   

 

[JonnyF]

16 minutes ago, Johnnyngai said:

Those Triads look big and tall compare to other southern Chinese.  

I wonder who is paying them to beat for the highest bidder.   

 

No doubt the authorities are paying these "white shirts" to beat the protesters. First thing I thought of when I saw this were the Black Shirts in Thailand in 2010. A mixture of off duty cops, soldiers and local gangsters/thugs hired by the establishment to hand out a beating in the hope that the establishment can claim they had nothing to do with it. Shameful stuff.

[Burma Bill]

Interesting that the Triads (HK mafia) are involved. These on-going protests must be severely hitting the commercial and tourist industries thus affecting the Triads "income" from go-go bars, drugs, extortion rackets and other scams. I was due to visit Hong Kong next month but changed to Burma instead.

[Sticky Wicket]

There is a Thai guy involved. 

Apparently he is quite a famous Muay Thai fighter!! He represented Thailand in the 2017 World Muay Thai Championship

[Johnnyngai]

On 7/22/2019 at 11:47 PM, Sticky Wicket said:

There is a Thai guy involved. 

Apparently he is quite a famous Muay Thai fighter!! He represented Thailand in the 2017 World Muay Thai Championship

That was what I mean by beating for the highest bidder. 

[rabas]

On 7/23/2019 at 9:36 AM, JonnyF said:

No doubt the authorities are paying these "white shirts" to beat the protesters. First thing I thought of when I saw this were the Black Shirts in Thailand in 2010. A mixture of off duty cops, soldiers and local gangsters/thugs hired by the establishment to hand out a beating in the hope that the establishment can claim they had nothing to do with it. Shameful stuff.

For historical clarity, the Thai Black Shirts were on the side of the protesters attacking the establishment and under the control of Thaksin's ex-Army security advisor Gen. Khattiya Sawasdiphol aka Seh Daeng.

 

I agree the white shirts are probably being used by the HK establishment or China.