Police fire tear gas, rubber bullets in Hong Kong clash over anti-triad march
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Tuesday
August 16, 2022

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2022
Police fire tear gas, rubber bullets in Hong Kong clash over anti-triad march

World+Biz

Reuters
28 July, 2019, 09:15 am
Last modified: 28 July, 2019, 09:27 am

Related News

  • 'Power in solidarity': Myanmar protesters inspired by Hong Kong and Thailand
  • Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai in custody after fraud charge
  • Hong Kong court rules that police complaints system breaches Bill of Rights
  • 'Five Eyes' alliance demands China end crackdown on Hong Kong legislators
  • Dozens of Hong Kong people write postcards to fugitives arrested by China

Police fire tear gas, rubber bullets in Hong Kong clash over anti-triad march

Activists held the march in Yuen Long, scene of the attack by club-wielding men, despite a police ban on safety grounds

Reuters
28 July, 2019, 09:15 am
Last modified: 28 July, 2019, 09:27 am
Demonstrators clash with police at a train station during a protest against the Yuen Long attacks in Yuen Long, New Territories, Hong Kong, China July 27, 2019. REUTERS/Edgar Su
Demonstrators clash with police at a train station during a protest against the Yuen Long attacks in Yuen Long, New Territories, Hong Kong, China July 27, 2019. REUTERS/Edgar Su

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators hurling rocks in a rural Hong Kong town on Saturday as several thousand activists gathered to protest an attack by suspected triad gang members at a train station last weekend.

Activists held the march in Yuen Long, scene of the attack by club-wielding men, despite a police ban on safety grounds.

Building barricades out of street furniture and umbrellas, protesters threw rocks and bottles. Many armed themselves with hiking sticks and improvised shields from wood, surfboards, cardboard and other materials.

Police, widely criticized for failing to better protect the public from last weekend’s attack, responded on Sunday with tear gas, rubber bullets and sponge grenades, a crowd control weapon.

Several hundred protesters remained as dark fell, fighting with police in the local train station, where blood could be seen spattered on the floor. Earlier, Reuters witnesses saw a hard core group of activists with small metal bats, metal and wooden poles and slingshots moving against the human tide.

Last Sunday, about 100 white-shirted men stormed the Yuen Long mass-transit station hours after protesters marched through central Hong Kong and defaced China’s Liaison Office - the main symbol of Beijing’s authority over the former British colony.

The men attacked black-clad protesters returning from Hong Kong island, passers-by, journalists and lawmakers with pipes and clubs, leaving 45 people injured. Some of the men later fled to Nam Pin Wai, a traditional walled village.

“We are all waiting for the white shirts to come out. If they want to fight us we are ready,” said Harlem Lo, a protester wearing a black T-shirt, who stood his ground despite riot police attempts to clear the area.

“We’ll get revenge for the beatings if they come out.”

Anger turned against police at Saturday’s march.

“They deliberately let the triads beat up protesters to get revenge on us ... We’re here to teach them a lesson,” said one protester Kevin, shouting an obscenity outside a police station.

The Yuen Long attack and the vandalism at the Liaison Office marked new fronts in a protest movement that has intensified over the last two months.

The protests, considered the most direct challenge to the authority of China’s President Xi Jinping on Hong Kong, mushroomed on Friday as thousands of activists thronged the arrivals halls of Hong Kong international airport.

The protesters, initially demanding the scrapping of a bill that would have allowed people to be sent to mainland courts for trial, are now also seeking independent inquiries into police use of force, the resignation of Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam and full democratic reform - anathema to Beijing’s Communist Party leadership.

“Just listen to the people of Hong Kong - they’re trying to send a message to Beijing. I don’t think Hong Kong is just another city of China, and I think China has to respect that,” said James Yip, 27, protesting on Saturday but, unlike many fellow demonstrators, praising police for their restraint.

The crisis has begun exposing fissures in Lam’s administration, with police chiefs and rank-and-file officers enraged at an apology over last weekend’s violence from her chief secretary on Friday, apparently made without consultation.
The official, Matthew Cheung, said the government would not shirk its responsibility “and the police’s handling fell short.”

On Saturday, government-funded broadcaster RTHK reported an update from Cheung in which he said he “totally supports” police and the force had “fulfilled its duties in maintaining social order under enormous stress at this difficult time.”

Britain handed Hong Kong to China in 1997 amid guarantees that its core freedoms and autonomy, including the right to protest and an independent judiciary, would be protected under a “one country, two systems” formula.
Many fear those rights are under threat.

 

Top News

Hong Kong Protest

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • A diesel fuel tank at a supplier in the US.Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg
    A storm brews in heating oil
  • Rohingya repatriation to be under UN supervision: Michelle Bachelet
    Rohingya repatriation to be under UN supervision: Michelle Bachelet
  • Bilkis Bano, one of the survivors of the Gujarat riot victims.(AP Photo)
    Eleven convicts in Gujarat gang rape, murder cases freed in India

MOST VIEWED

  • Chinese Premier Li Keqiang speaks at the opening session of the National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China March 5, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
    China will step up policy support for economy, premier tells state media
  • An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launches during an operational test at 2:10 am Pacific Daylight Time at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, US, August 2, 2017. US Air Force/Senior Airman Ian Dudley/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
    US carries out ICBM test delayed during Chinese show-of-force over Taiwan
  • REUTERS/Jonathan Drake/
    Trump's revenge campaign takes aim at key Wyoming, Alaska Republicans
  • Group of African penguins walk across Seaforth Beach, near Cape Town, South Africa, November 3, 2020. REUTERS/Sumaya Hisham
    African penguins endangered by shipping noise in Algoa Bay
  • A diesel fuel tank at a supplier in the US.Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg
    A storm brews in heating oil
  • Bilkis Bano, one of the survivors of the Gujarat riot victims.(AP Photo)
    Eleven convicts in Gujarat gang rape, murder cases freed in India

Related News

  • 'Power in solidarity': Myanmar protesters inspired by Hong Kong and Thailand
  • Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai in custody after fraud charge
  • Hong Kong court rules that police complaints system breaches Bill of Rights
  • 'Five Eyes' alliance demands China end crackdown on Hong Kong legislators
  • Dozens of Hong Kong people write postcards to fugitives arrested by China

Features

Photo: Collected

Welcome to the age of glass facades

7h | Habitat
Photo: Mumit M/TBS

Why artificial oyster reefs are the answer to our coastal embankments problems

7h | Panorama
Illustration: TBS

Anwar Group: From comb maker to owner of 20 companies

9h | Panorama
TBS Sketch

Bangabandhu and the spirit of Liberation War were killed in 1975

1d | Supplement

More Videos from TBS

Cumilla agro entrepreneur gains success in growing tea in Lalmai hills

Cumilla agro entrepreneur gains success in growing tea in Lalmai hills

3h | Videos
Footage of tragic accident in Uttara

Footage of tragic accident in Uttara

3h | Videos
Indian FM Jaishankar's video shown at Imran Khan's rally

Indian FM Jaishankar's video shown at Imran Khan's rally

9h | Videos
Experts advise on uniform exchange rate to deal with dollar crisis

Experts advise on uniform exchange rate to deal with dollar crisis

9h | Videos

Most Read

1
Dollar crisis: BB orders removal of 6 banks’ treasury chiefs 
Banking

Dollar crisis: BB orders removal of 6 banks’ treasury chiefs 

2
From left Afzal Karim, Murshedul Kabir and Mohammad Jahangir
Banking

Sonali, Agrani and Rupali banks get new MDs

3
Photo: TBS
Bangladesh

5 crushed to death as BRT girder falls on car in Uttara

4
Dollar price drops by Tk8 in kerb market
Economy

Dollar price drops by Tk8 in kerb market

5
Representational Image. Photo: Collected
Bangladesh

Air passengers should plan extra commute time to airport: DMP

6
Photo: Collected
Transport

Will Tokyo’s traffic model solve Dhaka’s gridlocks?

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2022
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]