On Sunday night Hong Kong police fired teargas on protesters and unidentified masked men attacked Yuen Long station, chasing passengers and beating them with rods. This event leaves the city in shock and several lawmakers questioned why police were slow to arrive at the scene.
Video filmed inside the train showed passengers screaming and crying as they attempted to shield themselves with umbrellas when men attacked people in the carriage. Forty-five people were injured, with one person in critical condition.
A major anti-government march in Hong Kong descended into chaos, as well as a pregnant woman and a woman holding an infant, according to witnesses. This is the first time this kind of violence has been seen in the ongoing anti-extradition demonstrations.
Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam told reporters the gang attacks were “shocking”. She also condemned protesters for defacing China’s main representative office in the city earlier on Sunday.
In a statement, the government said: “This is absolutely unacceptable to Hong Kong as a society that observes the rule of law. The SAR [Special Administrative Region] Government strongly condemns any violence and will seriously take enforcement actions.”
Facing off against police, protesters beat street signs and their helmets, responding to riot police who were beating their riot shields with batons. Plastic street barriers, traffic cones, and a ladder were set on fire near the protesters, while anti-police graffiti was scrawled in an underpass.
One journalist, Gwyneth Ho, was attacked while she was in the middle of live streaming for news website Stand News. She is currently in hospital.
A woman sobbed while recounting what happened during the Yuen Long attack, “They beat people in the carriage indiscriminately whoever they were, even people who were returning home from work … Some men were shielding us. They didn’t fight back otherwise we would have been beaten even worse. They beat even women and children.”
>Juthy Saha
Alarming Violence between Riot Police and Protesters in Hong Kong
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