'Don't take my Yuen Long comments out of context'

'Don't take my Yuen Long comments out of context'

A senior police officer on Monday urged people not to take his comments out of context, saying his claim that protesters were to blame for the July 21 gang rampage in Yuen Long was only one part of a long interview he had given to the media.



Senior superintendent Kong Wing-cheung didn't deny he had made the remark to Cable TV, but said at Monday's press briefing that he had also talked about plenty of other things.



"During that TV interview, actually I answered many questions and the part that you mentioned was only one of the many answers I gave. Please don't take it out of context. As I said, you can't draw conclusions from the certain snapshot that you see," Kong said.



In recent days the police have railed against what they describe as "fake news" on the internet and in some mainstream media. At Monday's briefing, the force asked media outlets to base their news reports on facts and not to publish things that people have simply told them.



Despite this, Kong said his claim that the brutal July 21 violence was caused by "a group of people leading protesters to Yuen Long" was based on his observations from different media reports.



He added that his conclusion wouldn't necessarily match that of the force as a whole, being as an investigation is still being carried out.



It took police almost 40 minutes to respond to the brutal attacks at Yuen Long's MTR Station, during which time a large gang of men wearing white T-shirts viciously beat train passengers and other passers-by with poles and sticks, putting dozens in hospital.