Protesters to blame for July 21 attack: police

Protesters to blame for July 21 attack: police

The public face of the Hong Kong police force, senior superintendent Kong Wing-cheung, says the vicious July 21 attack in Yuen Long, which left dozens of people in hospital, was caused by "a group of people leading protesters" to the area.



The indiscriminate violence meted out by a large gang of men wearing white T-shirts at the area's MTR station shocked not just the city, but many people across the world, with the incident widely regarded as one of the worst events of the months of unrest in the SAR.



As the gang rampaged through the station battering anyone they set their eyes on with poles and other weapons, police received a deluge of 999 calls from the area.



But two police officers at the MTR station left without taking any action, and it took the force almost 40 minutes to deploy more manpower to the scene.



In an interview with Cable TV, Kong – who regularly appears at police press briefings – was asked why the two officers "ran away" from the station.



In response, he said people needed to look at the bigger picture, going on to make his claim that protesters had been brought to Yuen Long that night to cause trouble.



Kong didn't name any names. But the claim echoes an allegation made by pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho, who in a December 12 Legco motion, accused pro-democracy legislator Lam Cheuk-ting of leading "a number of black-clad people" to Yuen Long on the MTR.



Ho said the protesters "repeatedly provoked a group of white-clad residents gathering in the station".



In response to Kong's remark, Lam accused the police of completely distorting the truth about the mob attack.



"Mr Kong publicly told lies and tried to shift the blame from the police force to the victims of the Yuen Long attack. It is extremely shameless and horrible. I doubt whether the police force can conduct an investigation against those attackers. Most of them are probably triad members," Lam said.



The legislator said he would send a letter to the police commissioner to urge him to clarify the matter, and would move a motion to invoke Legco's powers to investigate police conduct.