[82], Protests originally planned on 27 and 28 July in Hung Hom-To Kwa Wan, Tseung Kwan O and Hong Kong Islands West were rescheduled or postponed to make way for a Reclaim Yuen Long action on 27 July. Some politicians and activists have long linked Hong Kong’s shadowy network of triad criminal gangs to … On 7 January, the council passed a motion to establish a working group to investigate the mob attack. [62] According to the police, one of the arrested suspects had a triad background. Superintendent Kong Wing-cheung later echoed Tang's statement, saying that the attack started because of "a group" has led the protesters to Yuen Long, though he later backtracked by saying that it was only his "personal observation". Former student leader Tommy Cheung, now district councillor for Yuen Lung constituency, was elected chairman of the task force. [110], The Yuen Long attack was widely considered to be the turning point of the protests, as the police's inadequate response and alleged collusion with the triads crippled people's confidence in the police and turned a lot of citizens who were politically neutral or apathetic against the police. [32], In the evening, assailants wearing white shirts and armed with iron bars and wooden clubs gathered in Yuen Long. [124], The injured, as well as LegCo Councillors Lam Cheuk-ting (who was also injured in the attack),[10][125] James Tien,[10] and a number of pro-democratic councillors[9] accused the mob of being members of triad gangs. “Individual triad members have their own ideologies, but triads as a group — they only work for money.”. According to the police, the police force was mainly focused on the public procession on Hong Kong Island, while Yuen Long was manned on a "skeleton" basis. [85] Despite the risk of committing the unlawful assembly offence, tens of thousands of people, or 288,000 as the original march applicant estimated, turned up in the town. The new council term commenced on 1 January 2020. During the pro … [109] Six months after the attack, most shops in the area have not been contacted by police for evidence. [141], The pro-democracy camp won a landslide victory in the 2019 Hong Kong local elections, held later in the year. In the age of live-streaming, Hong Kong residents on Monday woke up to the sickening horror of a vicious assault on pro-democracy protestersand innocent bystanders by suspected triad … [76] Protesters also posted anti-government sticky notes on the exterior wall of his offices in Tin Shui Wai[77] and Tuen Mun. [26] Soon after, there were online posts calling for people to "Liberate Yuen Long" (光復元朗) and to take part in a public meeting to be held on 21 July at Yuen Long in protest against those who had disrupted the screening. The 14k triad, founded in 1945, is believed to boast as many as 20,000 members. [114] Choy said, "Whatever speculation there is, [it] will cause concern in the news industry. The assault on Sunday targeted people who were returning from antigovernment protests, and raised the fears of violence compounding political upheaval in the city. [15] At least 45 people were injured in the incident,[16] including a pregnant woman. Char, barrister and former Chief Investigator of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, indicated that intentional negligence by police officers who refused to offer public services might have committed the offence of misconduct in public office under the common law. Many protesters marched on Castle Peak Road. Police replied that the shut-down was for safety reasons due to large groups of protesters surrounding the stations. Despite thousands of reports to the 999 emergency hotline,[18] the police only arrived 39 minutes after attacks and one minute after the mob had left the station. During the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement demonstrations later that year, a gang of men, including several believed to have triad connections, attacked a protest encampment in the Mong Kok district in Kowloon. Around 3:55 am, the white shirt mob started leaving by either drove away or walked around the police's perimeter, none was stopped or questioned by the police. “As long as they are patriots, concerned with maintaining the prosperity of Hong Kong, we should respect them.”. [106] Fellow lawmaker, Wu Chi-wai, commenting on Lam's arrest, added that "the prosecution is ‘calling a deer a horse’ and twisting right and wrong". 'Triad' attack on Hong Kong protesters sparks anger | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and … Hong Kong Economic Times compared the attack with two terrorist attacks in Mainland China in 2014, suggesting the Yuen Long attack may qualify as a terrorist attack according to the Mainland law. It … An armed mob of alleged triad members dressed in white indiscriminately attacked civilians on streets with steel rods and rattan canes, before attacking passengers in nearby Yuen Long stationincluding the elderly, children, black-clad protesters, journalists and lawmakers. The Yuen Long District Council, previously dominated by pro-government councillors, also swung pro-democratic, with democrats taking 33 of the 39 elected seats and gaining control of the 45-seat council. On the other hand, there is also the increase of reports alleging that the police have adopted violent strategies against the protesters. [100][101] On the 21st day of each month, citizens staged sit-ins or assemblies in Yuen Long, especially inside Yuen Long station or the neighbouring YOHO Mall. On the evening of 21 July 2019, during the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, a mob attack occurred in Yuen Long, a town in the New Territories. The statement also highlighted the University's respect for freedom of speech. Hong Kong's opposition Democratic Party is investigating attacks by suspected triad gangsters on train passengers on Sunday, after a night of violence opened new fronts in … [48] As the mob left, police confiscated dozens of wooden sticks, steel rods in the car park,[39] though no arrests were made as they claimed they "saw no one holding weapons" and "noticed nothing criminal" in the village[39] and claimed they could not determine the identity of the white-shirted mobsters as "wearing white shirt did not mean they would the ones attacked in Yuen Long station". A century ago, Hong Kong had hundreds of triads, their numbers lifted by waves of immigration from mainland China. [75], Junius Ho's office in Tsuen Wan was vandalised by the protesters after the attack. The streets of Yuen Long were desolate Monday night, with businesses closing early and residents staying home out of fear of further violence. Wooden sticks, handles, poles, rattan canes. A gang of men, including several believed to have triad connections, attacked a protest encampment in the Mong Kok district of Kowloon in 2014. In addressing why she prioritised the liaison office incident before the Yuen Long mob attack in her remarks, Lam said: "It's important that Hong Kong citizens' daily lives are protected, but I believe all citizens will agree that the successful implementation of one country, two systems is ... even the most important thing. I don't think there is any benefit to the Hong Kong public." [108] On the anniversary of the attack, only 37 people, aged 18 to 61, have been arrested, and only 7 of them were charged with rioting. apologises over handling of Yuen Long attacks, stirring dissent from police", "Matthew Cheung says he 'totally supports' police", "Britain will keep 'close eye' on Hong Kong violence probe", "Yuen Long councilors to investigate MTR mob attack", "Hong Kong protests: district council sets up task force to investigate mob attack at Yuen Long MTR station", Storming of the Legislative Council Complex, 2020 detainment of Hong Kong residents at sea by China, Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times, Memorials for the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2019_Yuen_Long_attack&oldid=1001016157, Wikipedia articles needing factual verification from October 2019, Short description is different from Wikidata, Infobox mapframe without OSM relation ID on Wikidata, Articles containing Chinese-language text, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Many protestors, however, did not stop at the designated end point at Luard Road in Wan Chai, and continued to walk in the direction of Sheung Wan arriving at the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong close to 7:00 pm. During the Qing dynasty, they helped resist the Manchu who ruled China, and they were enlisted by the Chinese Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang, when it came to power after the collapse of the Qing in 1911. Kevin Lau, the former chief editor of Ming Pao, a prominent Hong Kong newspaper, was seriously injured in a knife attack in 2014. At least 45 people (including 1 pregnant woman, Around 700 white-shirted men with suspected, Japan – The Consulate-General of Japan in Hong Kong issued new warning to their expatriates in Hong Kong, This page was last edited on 17 January 2021, at 21:16. Shortly after the apology, images of printed statements accompanied by warrant cards circulated on-line from dissenting police officers, questioning the need to apologise and calling Cheung an "enemy of the police. Some triad members in Hong Kong helped leaders of the Tiananmen Square protests flee China after a deadly military crackdown in June 1989. [129], There was backlash on 22 July when 30 protesters demonstrated at Yuen Long police station to condemn the attacks, the delayed police response, and the alleged collusion between police and triad gangs. [16] It was revealed by RTHK that the police had sent plainclothed officers to monitor the situation prior to the attack, but they did not intervene despite the fact that some of the white-shirters were already carrying weapons. Today, there are only a few dozen groups with interconnected ties and allegiances. Kevin Lau, the former chief editor of Ming Pao, a prominent Hong Kong newspaper, was seriously injured in a knife attack in 2014. On the one hand, government supporters who favoured the extradition bill praised police as defenders of law and order. [103] The police, on the day of Lam's arrest, further changed the account and said that the incident was a clash "between two evenly matched rivals",[104] alleged that the photo evidence and reporter commentary were "one-sided", and that the attack was not indiscriminate. That helped inspire aggressive reforms, and today the territory is regularly ranked highly on anticorruption indexes. [67], Stephen S.N. Following the incident, he required 18 stitches for a mouth wound. [64], On 26 August, two men were charged and held without bail in relation to the Yuen Long attacks. [38] In all, at least 45 citizens were reported injured,[40] including Legislative Council member Lam Cheuk-ting and two reporters; one other journalist had their equipment smashed. The assault on Sunday targeted people who were returning from antigovernment protests, in 1984 members of the gang assassinated Henry Liu, a gang of men, including several believed to have triad connections, attacked a protest encampment, damage done by demonstrators to the Chinese government’s liaison office. At least 45 people were injured in the incident, including a pregnant woman. [24][25][26] Towards the end of the screening, several people dressed in white confronted the group in a brief non-violent commotion, which subsided when the police arrived. [61] Yau Nai-keung, the Assistant District Commander of Crime in Yuen Long, also stated that the colleagues did not see anyone holding weapons at the area at all. [54] The following day, contact information for Li had been removed from the government directory, along with removal of the details for 11 other lower-ranking officers from the Yuen Long Division. [128], Arthur Shek Kang Chuen [zh], Vice-editor-in-chief of Hong Kong Economic Times and one of the executive directors of its publisher Hong Kong Economic Times Holdings, resigned on 23 July after retracting his personal opinion on encouraging the use of violence on anti-bill protesters; he expressed the opinion during an event supporting police on 20 July, a day before the attack. However, former lawmaker James Tien questioned her sincerity and asked if Triads were now ruling Hong Kong. Half a dozen of white shirt thugs with metal rods in hands came forward and intimidated reporters, two riot police chatted with two of them and patted one on the shoulder before letting them go. Secretary for Security John Lee said the investigation was "no different from any other investigation that the police have been doing, as a result of a complaint."[115]. [34] However, they left the station as they judged that they were outnumbered by the assailants[37] and did not have sufficient gear, according to the police. Professor Lo said, however, that police animosity toward the black-shirted protesters — whom they had clashed with for weeks — was the most likely factor in the slow response. Hong Kong police on July 22defended 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 July 21. Asked if police had colluded with triads at the station, Lo said the force had no connections to triads. Suspected triad member killed in ‘mistaken identity attack’ in northern Hong Kong The 21-year-old victim, thought to be a member of Sun Yee On triad, was … After World War II, corruption among Hong Kong police officers and collusion with triads was common. 21 August 2019 sit-in at Yuen Long station, 21 January 2020 assembly at Yuen Long station, Sit-in on 21 February 2020 inside Yuen Long Light Rail stop, On 21 March 2020, police fired tear gas in Yuen Long, On 21 April 2020, people gathered in YOHO Mall, While the police and the government initially recognised that the incident was "violent" and "shocking", as the attackers assaulted the commuters inside the Yuen Long MTR station, the police attempted to reshape the narrative in their favour over the following year. In 1997 began a war between 14K, then under the control of Wan Kuok-koi (called Broken Tooth Koi) and the Shui Fong(the water room, whose exotic nam… [33] However, after midnight, white-shirted assailants forced open the station's shutters to launch a second wave of attacks on passengers; no police officers were at the scene then. [134][135], Chief Executive Carrie Lam held a media session at 3 pm on 22 July 2019,[135] first condemning protesters for besieging the Liaison Office in Sheung Wan the night before. [46] The management of Yoho Mall, a shopping centre next to Yuen Long station, also attempted to call the police but they could not get in touch with them. [72][73], Many shops on the streets and in shopping malls were closed in Yuen Long and the neighbouring towns Tuen Mun, Tin Shui Wai and Tsuen Wan on 22 July 2019. In a Facebook post, he urged Lam to resign for what happened in Yuen Long that night. Police dismissed allegations that the arrest was an attack on press freedom. Public anger grew after the police chief, Peter Fitzroy Godber, was found in 1973 to have hundreds of thousands of dollars in overseas accounts. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post identified the 14K and Wo Shing Wo triads as those suspected to have participated in the attack. Triad is a name given to Hong Kong’s organized crime syndicates that make their money through illicit drugs, gambling and prostitution among other activities. [66] At that time, police were similarly accused of not responding in a timely manner and criticised for allowing attacks to occur. In Taiwan, where the Kuomintang fled in 1949 after losing a civil war to the Communist Party, gangs still sometimes wield political influence. The University issued a statement afterwards, in which it denied that there was any connection between the stance of University and the actions of Ho. [42] This has led to the suspicion of Ho being involved with the incident in question by members of Hongkong's opposition. It used the Green Gang in Shanghai to suppress unionists and help massacre thousands of communists in that city in 1927. [139] Questioned about demands for an independent inquiry into police misconduct, Cheung said that the matter would be handled internally. [38] Thirty police officers arrived at the station at 11:20 pm, but the assailants had left. After a violent mob attack in Hong Kong, protesters accused the police of ignoring their calls for help. [104] In a statement, Clifford Stott, who was once an IPCC's consultants, added that the police were trying to write "their own history of 2019" that fit with their "ideological position of portraying the protest crowds as irrational mobs" in an attempt to "mask the role of [the] state in the construction of crowd violence and to legitimize reactionary forms of policing". Law enforcement officials have said the police were slow to respond because so many officers were needed for protests on Hong Kong Island, about 15 miles south of Yuen Long. A coalition of 24 Hong Kong lawmakers issued a statement Monday after the attacks accusing Hong Kong police of cooperating with triads to silence protesters, revealing that multiple protesters called the government emergency number, 999, and received either no responses or tepid suggestions to leave the streets if they wish to avoid trouble. [86][87] The police insisted that the tear gas shot did not affect the seniors living in an elderly home nearby, though photos showed otherwise. [14], Many also criticised the fact that police stations in the vicinity of the Yuen Long attacks shut their doors, despite a large group of residents who were there to report crimes. [36][37] Two police officers arrived at 10:52 pm. In the mid-1990s, 14K (where K stands for carats) was considered the largest of the Triads. [38] Due to the violence, trains bypassed Yuen Long station between 10:56 pm and 11:19 pm,[39] and the station was ordered closed at 11:55 pm. [88] Starting from 5 pm, the police fired canisters of tear gas upon protesters near Sai Pin Wai village and Nam Pin Wai Village, while protesters hurled objects in return. The police allowed these mobsters sufficient time to leave the scene.”. Anatomy of a triad attack Lam was raised in Hong Kong’s New Territories, a hilly stretch of terrain along the border with China’s mainland. Pro-democratic councillors signed a petition to condemn the negligence of the police in allowing suspected triads to become enforcers of their own rules,[123] while the pro-Beijing DAB condemned the violent incident and "demanded that the police follow up on [the attack] seriously". On the evening of 21 July 2019, during the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, a mob attack occurred in Yuen Long, a town in the New Territories. The Kuomintang used Chinese criminal gangs to attack their political enemies at various times during the Republican era in China. Before Britain returned the city to Chinese control in 1997, the mainland authorities sought to co-opt triads in order to curb their assistance to pro-democracy demonstrators and promote stability during the sensitive handover period. [41][42], Citizens made calls to the emergency hotline upon seeing the armed group assembling at around 7:00 pm, and an MTR spokesman said the first call by the MTR to the police was made at around 10:45 pm, but police officers arrived more than three hours after initial calls for help were made. [10][63], Some politicians, such as Zachary Wong, Councillor of the Yuen Long District Council, accused the mob of being under the influence of the Beijing central government, citing the opinion of a Liaison Office official in an inauguration event of Shap Pat Heung Rural Committee days earlier. “The members of triads are not always gangsters,” Tao Siju, China’s chief law enforcement officer, said during a visit to Hong Kong in 1992. In 2014, Hong Kong police investigated triad gang attacks on protesters during pro-democracy demonstrations that shut down parts of the city for 79 days. [102] Lam Cheuk-ting was arrested on 26 August 2020 for "rioting" for showing up in Yuen Long station on 21 July 2019, in addition to another non-violence related charge pertaining to events of 6 July 2019. 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. [114] The owners of cars were identified as rural village leaders. [132], The government condemned the attacks in a statement released after midnight local time. What Are the Triads, and What Is Their History of Violence? [29][30] Protestors then proceeded to throw eggs and black ink at the building and defaced the National Emblem on the building. [103] Lam was a victim of the attack as he was assaulted by the white-clad attackers that day inside the train compartment. The police fired tear gas in the evening, including near residential areas. On the evening of 16 July, it was reported that some local Fugitive Offenders Bill protestors had held a public screening of video clips on the alleged police brutality in public order events at the Fung Yau Street North Sitting-out Area. [55][56], Yuen Long District Council members including Zachary Wong and Johnny Mak had alerted the police on July 20 after they heard rumors from rural groups that a potential triad attack was about to take place. As the scene gets uglier, fingers point … After the retirement of Stephen Lo, the new police commissioner, Chris Tang, began to give a completely different account, saying that the incident only became heated when lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting arrived at the station. [65], Pro-democratic lawmaker Eddie Chu, representing New Territories West, stated: "Police didn't show up while thugs rampaged through the station and attacked Yuen Long residents indiscriminately last night," stating that this meant there was "clear collusion between police and the gangs. "[14], Triad gangsters were previously linked to attacks on democracy activists in Mong Kok during the 2014 Umbrella Movement. [17] The attack happened following an anti-extradition bill protest earlier that day in Sheung Wan, a district on Hong Kong Island. [8][9][10] An armed mob of alleged triad members dressed in white indiscriminately attacked civilians on streets with steel rods and rattan canes, before attacking passengers in nearby Yuen Long station[11][12] including the elderly, children,[13] black-clad protesters,[14] journalists and lawmakers. Terrified screams rang out … Of course not. It was formed after the Second World War and the Chinese Civil War. On Sunday 21 July, the Civil Human Rights Front organised a protest from Causeway Bay to Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island, with black being the dress code again. [52] However, the police officers only arrived at around 11:15 pm, when the mob was gone, despite receiving many other citizens' call to 999 for help. Several people in the group, including lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, stated they may appeal for financial compensation of damages in a court of law and file suite against the police and the MTR Corporation. A glass partition was broken, as well as leaving memo that "suggested a link between the violent gangs that carried out the attack the previous day and the police force". This is natural, but of course it’s not normal.”. [19][20][21] The police stood idle at a nearby police station[22] and no arrests were made that night. "[136], Lam did not directly address the media's questions about the alleged delayed response by police to calls for help. Many companies allowed employees who live in the districts to leave work early that day. With up to 100,000 triad members estimated to operate in Hong Kong, it is questionable whether those involved in highly publicised incidents over … "If I got some reports that said black shirts were under attack, do you think I’d respond energetically? [121] The newspaper also compared the attack with U.S. law, making the same conclusion. [70][71], The Law Society, of which Ho was once president, said it had received "quite a number of complaints" and is "seriously looking into" calls for disciplinary action against Ho and "conducting reviews on relevant complaints, and will pass the matter to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal if necessary. [14], After blocking entrances to the area for more than three hours, the police made no arrests. The attackers were said to have targeted people who had participated in antigovernment demonstrations. During the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement demonstrations later that year, a gang of men, including several believed to have triad connections, attacked a protest encampment in the Mong Kok district in Kowloon. The police force refused to apologise for its slow response, despite recognising that the police's response that day had failed to live up to the public's expectations. The police's account aligned with that of Junius Ho's and pro-Beijing group's accusation that Lam's appearance "stirred up" the conflict and eventually caused a "fight". Lam Cheuk-ting, a pro-democracy lawmaker who rushed to the scene of the attacks in the satellite town of Yuen Long, said blame lay with both the police, who failed to protect people, and the organized crime groups known as triads who allegedly carried out the attack. "[140] The Police Inspectors' Association and the Junior Police Officers' Association expressed "the most serious condemnation" of his statement of apology. An assault on pro-democracy protesters by suspected triad gangsters that left dozens wounded sparked a firestorm of outrage in Hong Kong on Monday, in a dramatic escalation of political turmoil plaguing the Chinese city. He was recorded on video saying "I don't know if we were late" and claimed to not have looked at his watch. The police responded by saying that they were also alerted by the news and would deploy sufficient manpower to deal with the situation. On Sunday, witnesses saw groups of men in white with poles and bamboo staves at a nearby village but police later found no weapons and allowed the men to leave without making arrests. Court hearings were scheduled to begin on 25 October. “The police and the triads now rule Yuen Long together,” said Mr. Lam, who was beaten in the attack and required 18 stitches for cuts to his mouth. [74] Rumours spread online warned that there would be more violence on that day. [20] Residents also reported being ignored and treated rudely by 999 responders, who claimed they "should stay at home if they are afraid". [40] The police station in Yuen Long shut its gate in response to the hundreds that turned up to report the incident. The triads have a patriotic reputation, but their deepest allegiance is to cash, said Lo T. Wing, a professor at City University of Hong Kong who researches triads. Kevin Lau, the former chief editor of Ming Pao, a prominent Hong Kong newspaper, was seriously injured in a knife attack in 2014. [137] Commissioner of Police Stephen Lo said he needed to follow up with the incident and refused to comment at this point on the police's reaction towards mobs in this incident compared to the high-pressure approach towards protesters in earlier situations. “They don’t work for political ideology,” he said. Upon arrival, police were surrounded by dozens of angry residents and protesters who accused police of deliberately retreating after being called to the scene for the first assault. However, he also defended the mob at a press conference by saying that the incidents were a "normal reaction to protesters who brought violence to the peaceful community after they stormed the liaison office" and also praised them for "safeguarding" their district.