HONG KONG (REUTERS) – Hong Kong’s leader on Monday (July 22) strongly condemned some anti-government protesters for an “attack” on China’s main representative office in the city.  

On Sunday, police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse activists at China’s Liaison Office, its main representative branch in the city, who fled after defacing some walls and a national emblem.  

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the targeting of the office was a “challenge” to national sovereignty, condemning violent behaviour of any kind.

She also described as “shocking” an apparent attack by organised triad criminal gangs on ordinary citizens and protesters at a train station in Yuen Long on Sunday, saying the authorities would investigate fully.

Flanked by over a dozen of her principal officials, Mrs Lam said she had instructed Police Commissioner Stephen Lo to find the culprits.

“I’ve said this and I’ll say it again, violence will not solve any problems and will only lead to more violence,” she said at a press conference.

Hong Kong police faced criticism on Monday for an apparent failure to protect anti-government protesters and passers-by from the train station attack.

Some politicians and activists have long linked Hong Kong’s shadowy network of triad criminal gangs to political intimidation and violence in recent years, sometimes against pro-democracy activists and critics of Beijing.  

On Sunday night, men in white T-shirts, some armed with various types of clubs, flooded into the rural Yuen Long station and stormed a train, attacking passengers with pipes, poles and other objects, according to video footage. 

Witnesses, including Democratic lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, said the men appeared to target black-shirted passengers who had been at an anti-government march.

Mr Lam, who was wounded in the face and hospitalised, said the police ignored calls he made to them to intervene and prevent bloodshed. 

“They deliberately turned a blind eye to these attacks by triads on regular citizens,” he told Reuters, saying the floors of the station were streaked with blood. 

“I won’t speculate on why they didn’t help immediately,” he said.

Forty-five people were injured in the violence at the station, with one in critical condition, according to hospital authorities.  

Senior district police commander Yau Nai-keung said an initial police patrol had to wait for reinforcements given a situation involving more than 100 people.  

He told reporters the police had not made any arrests at the station or during a follow-up search of a nearby village, but were investigating.  

Witnesses saw groups of men in white with poles and bamboo staves at the village, but the commander said police saw no weapons when they arrived.

Following some questioning of the men, they were allowed to leave, he told reporters. 

“We can’t say you have a problem because you are dressed in white and we have to arrest you. We will treat them fairly no matter which camp they are in,” he said.

Police did not immediately respond to Reuters’ questions on the clash.  

Hong Kong’s anti-triad police units in 2014 investigated the role of triad gangs in attacks on protesters during the pro-democracy demonstrations that shut down parts of the city for 79 days that year.  

Mr Alvin Yeung, a barrister and lawmaker with the pro-democracy Civic Party, said he was sure the men were from gangs.

“I hope that the police will not deceive themselves,” Mr Yeung said. “It is a triad fight, and not a normal confrontation.”

A liaison office spokesman late on Sunday strongly condemned protesters who vandalised the building and defaced the national emblem, saying the actions were a direct challenge to national sovereignty.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua said in an editorial on Monday that the attack on the liaison office was a “blatant challenge to the central government” and will not be tolerated.

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