The police say that although they banned a planned protest in Yuen Long this Saturday, they will deploy to prevent any "attack on the locals,'' RTHK reports.

More than 1,000 letters have been received from Yuen Long residents and villagers urging the police not to allow a demonstration over last Sunday's mob attacks on MTR passengers, and it would have been ignoring the public's wishes had it not banned the march, the police said at an afternoon briefing today.

Acting regional commander of New Territories North, Tsang Ching-fo, said the protest wold have posed a severe risk to public order.

He warned people not to try to stage a protest regardless and said that any assembly would be illegal.

"In fact we are preparing for it anyway. But that will depend on the situation. There will be a deployment ... to prevent any sort of attack on the locals and there will possibly be deployment for general policing as well as the transport arrangements, to prevent any disturbance of the transport in the area," Tsang said.

Max Chung, who had unsuccessfully applied for a "letter of no objection" for the protest, said he for one would be making the procession in any case.

There have also been calls online for people to gather near the starting point for the proposed march to mourn the death of "butcher of Beijing" Li Peng.

Meanwhile, Civic Party lawmaker Kwok Ka-ki said the ban on the protest sets a bad precedent because it undermines people's right to hold demonstrations as set out in the Basic Law.

"This will send a message to the people of Hong Kong and perhaps to the world that we are going into the era of white terror," he said.

The police response to Sunday night's vicious rampage by a gang of men all clad in white T-shirts has outraged many, with police admitting it took more than half an hour for it to arrive at the scene of the violence.

