Hong Kong riot police on Tuesday evening dispersed a protest marking the first anniversary of the Yuen Long railway station attack, a major event in the 2019 protest movement locally known as the “721 Incident.”
Four Hong Kong district councilors were doused with pepper spray and arrested on Sunday at a gathering to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Yuen Long railway station attack.
University of Hong Kong student union leader Davin Kenneth Wong resigned from his position on Thursday and left the city after he reported being attacked by a man wearing a white T-shirt. Hong Kong protesters favor black clothing, while counter-demonstrators — notoriously including gang-linked thugs hired to assault and intimidate pro-democracy activists — often wear white shirts.
Thousands of Hong Kong residents held a sit-in on Wednesday at the MTR railroad station in Yuen Long, where protesters were savagely attacked on July 21 by thugs linked to organized crime gangs. The demonstrators used the one-month anniversary of the attack to complain about the lack of an independent investigation of the Yuen Long incident and instances of excessive force used by the police against protesters.
The commander of China’s armed forces in Hong Kong declared protests in the city “absolutely intolerable” on Wednesday, alleging the protesters are violent and vowing the military will “resolutely safeguard” China’s interests in the city.
Hong Kong authorities charged 44 protesters with rioting on Wednesday. The protesters were present at an “illegal” rally against the mob violence pro-democracy activists experienced this month at the hands of triad-linked assailants in the rural Yuen Long area after a protest.
Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong stood between the doors of Mass Transit Rail (MTR) trains in the city on Tuesday morning, preventing them from moving and keeping locals from getting to work during peak transit hours.
Police in Hong Kong injured nearly two dozen and arrested at least 14 throughout the weekend as anti-China protesters defied a ban on marching against the use of violence to silence dissent.
