Hongkongers won’t tolerate any police spin on Yuen Long mob attack

Public anger over a police superintendent’s attempt to write off the violence on July 21 as a fight between two groups of people, despite widely seen footage showing otherwise, can only be pacified by an independent investigation into what happened

Albert Cheng

Published: 6:45am, 4 Sep 2020

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Under the national security law, “white terror” has descended on Hong Kong. On the surface, the city seems to be calmer than during the months of angry protests last year, but public anger against political suppression remains. If the government intends to patch things up with the Hong Kong people and restore social order permanently, an independent investigation into alleged police brutality must be launched.

The city needs answers for major incidents like the attack on protesters in Yuen Long on July 21 last year, and at Prince Edward MTR Station on August 31. Otherwise, furious Hong Kong people will take to the streets again some day.

Unfortunately, the government is doing the opposite. The police appear to have twisted the facts over the Yuen Long incident and redefined it as a fight between two groups of people on an equal footing. They also arrested Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, who was at the station when the attacks occurred. He is accused of rioting and stoking the violence. His fellow party member, Ted Hui Chi-fung, was arrested on the same day under another charge.

At a press conference, senior superintendent Chan Tin-chu gave a version of events that many people saw as a lie. He criticised media coverage of the incident, saying the video footage published was lopsided and misleading.

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It is a fact that the July 21 attack was a turning point of the protest movement. That day, public attention was at first focused on the clashes on Hong Kong Island, where some radical protesters had vandalised the central government liaison office. Then, as the attack in Yuen Long happened, shown to the world via live reporting, people’s attention shifted.

Footage captured by journalists and regular Hongkongers showed a white-shirted mob beating up black-shirted young people on the streets, and passengers inside the MTR station. Some videos also showed the police passing by the mob without taking any action.

During the attack, people kept calling 999; most of these calls went unanswered. By the time the police showed up, the attack was over. Many believe the police colluded with the mob.

The horrifying night is deeply rooted in Hongkongers’ minds and Chan Tin-chu’s version of events angered a lot of people. A day after his speech, Police Commissioner Chris Tang Ping-keung clarified a few of the points raised – including whether police took 18 minutes or 39 minutes to arrive at the scene – and also said the force should avoid unnecessary statements to prevent misunderstandings. Tang said the police has no intention to rewrite history. Does that imply Chan’s version was not true? Some say yes.

Was it a planned attack? At a community event earlier that month, Li Jiyi, the director of the liaison office’s New Territories office, gave a speech in which he appeared to encourage villagers to resist protests in their neighbourhood. A day before the attack, Arthur Shek Kang-chuen, then executive director of the Hong Kong Economic Times, attended a rally and urged the crowd to discipline violent protesters with force.

After the attack, the police went to a Yuen Long village and briefly questioned some of the white-shirted men. They confiscated some steel bars but did not arrest anyone. Does this show collusion?

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Police have so far arrested 57 suspects and prosecuted eight of them on rioting and assault charges. Many attackers are still at large. Yet one of those arrested was Lam, a victim of the attack.

In a report on the incident, the Independent Police Complaints Council noted that some white-shirted people had attacked others in the station. Clifford Stott, a crowd behaviour expert who was on the international expert panel advising the IPCC, criticised the police for its poor handling of the incident.

Hongkongers will always remember the “721 attack”. The government needs to set up an independent investigation committee as soon as possible. Otherwise, it will be a dead end for Hong Kong.

Albert Cheng King-hon is a political commentator

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