Hong Kong gang attack on pro-democracy protesters was 'premeditated'

A vicious attack on pro-democracy protesters by suspected triad gangsters on Sunday night in a Hong Kong metro station was premeditated and likely planned days in advance, a legislator assaulted in the incident has claimed.

Lam Cheuk-ting, a Democratic Party politician, was cornered by stick-wielding thugs who fractured his hand and tore a deep gash in his face requiring 18 stitches as he tried to defend terrified commuters from the rampaging gang in Yuen Long metro station in Hong Kong’s New Territories. 

His claims about the lawless mayhem at the station will compound pressure on Hong Kong’s embattled police force, which is already under fire from a public deeply shocked by the violence and angered by the authorities’ slow response as it unfolded.

In a Telegraph interview, Mr Lam alleged that anonymous internet warnings appeared “two or three days before the attack” that said it would be “dangerous if anyone has a black shirt and if they go to Yuen Long.” Black is the colour widely worn at Hong Kong’s recent mass protests.

Postings claimed residents of a nearby village were told to avoid the area on Sunday, he said. While early that night, people leaving the station spotted hundreds of gangsters wearing white shirts and tried to call the police. “The police urgent hotline was disconnected,” reported Mr Lam.

He had been nervously monitoring social media for developments. Shortly before 10pm a video emerged of a young man under attack and Mr Lam rushed to the scene.

“When I arrived, I was told a lady was injured because the gangsters used a baton to hit her head. She was severely hurt and there was so much blood on the floor,” he said.

The crowd, some hyperventilating in panic, tried to shelter inside but about 100 assailants smashed through the entrance and chased them onto a train, battering everyone in sight.

On Tuesday a new video emerged of the moment a woman who appeared to be pregnant was knocked unconscious and a female journalist recording events was pummeled to the ground.

Mr Lam backed multiple reports that it took at least an hour for the police to arrive. “It was absolutely unacceptable..The police force deliberately aided the attack or allowed it,” he alleged.

The police said its New Territories 999 centre received over 24,000 calls in just three hours, RTHK reported, while seven men have now been arrested, some with links to triads.

Stephen Lo, the commissioner of police, has strongly denounced accusations of collusion between officers and triads and blamed deployment delays on the force being overstretched by a series of mass protests in recent weeks over a contested extradition bill.

On Sunday a huge march of hundreds of thousands ended with riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters who had besieged China’s liaison office to Hong Kong, in a direct challenge to Beijing’s rule.

Mr Lam’s claims of prior warnings were backed by local media reports. The Apple Daily said an audio clip shared on social media on Saturday warned people to steer clear of Yuen Long after a van driver said he was asked to deliver metal poles there.

A now deleted Facebook post, apparently by a police officer – but which could not be independently verified by The Telegraph – said “Yuen Long is preparing to teach the kids a lesson.”

In a statement on Tuesday night, one of the main protest groups, the Civil Human Rights Group, also claimed “there was information from different resources suggesting gang members were about to attack protesters.”

It added: “In any civilised society, this crime spree is to be regarded as a terrorist attack.”

The incident has further galvanised a protest movement which has rapidly evolved into a wider cry for democracy, and is set to escalate tensions with Beijing.

China’s Global Times condemned Sunday’s brief siege of the liaison office where protesters defaced the walls and a national emblem.

“The criminals who insulted China’s national emblem will eventually be in the defendant’s seat. Prison awaits them,” it said.

But fears are growing that Hong Kong’s pro-Chinese gangs may have received encouragement from China for their actions.

“It is suspected that Beijing is behind [the incident],” said Mr Lam. “More and more youngsters suggest we have to defend ourselves. The confrontation may be getting serious in the future.”