What had apparently ended with the scrapping of a bill handing over extradition rights to crimes of foreign nationals in the country proved to be just the icing on the cake as demonstrations continue to fill the streets of Hong Kong led by hundreds and thousands of anti-government protesters expressing their rage and discontent over what the government has done as of late.
What this exactly means may be more than just a spur-of-the-moment decision to side with China, which Hong Kong citizens now hold against their Chief Executive, Carrie Lam and her administration, even calling for her removal from office.
Violence Erupts Once Again in Recent Hong Kong Demonstrations
And as if things couldn’t get even worse, a group of masked men, many wielding sticks and dressed in white clothes, attacked anti-government protesters inside a Hong Kong station on Sunday night (Jul 21), as shared in a report by Channel News Asia.
At the station in the New Territories district of Yuen Long, screams can be heard as protesters who had attended a demonstration earlier in the day were attacked by men in white T-shirts, some armed with poles, as they were on their home.
The incident has stirred up suspicions that the city’s feared triad gangs are wading into the political conflict on the island.
In a video uploaded by Channel News Asia on YouTube, this group of men was seen attacking protesters on the platform and inside trains.
Blood can be seen on the station platforms along with remnants of what seemed like broken batons and debris.
The violence then spread onto a crowded train at a platform, with the people in white seen boarding the train and attacking those on board with sticks and batons and throwing items at them from the platform.
In the evening, thousands defiled police orders and riled up authorities deployed to maintain peace and order at the scene. Protesters marched beyond the official end-point of the rally as they made their way toward the Liaison Office, in a direct challenge to authorities in Beijing.
Some protesters threw eggs at the walls of the office, while others vandalised the walls by spray-painting graffiti on them.
Earlier this month, Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam had apologised for the turmoil the extradition Bill has caused and proclaimed it “null and void”. Opponents of the bill, which they fear could be used to silence dissent, say nothing short of its withdrawal will do.
In relation to this, China has also expressed contempt over the violent protests as an “undisguised challenge” to the “one country, two systems” formula that it is pushing for with Hong Kong.
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