Al Hilal advances to AFC Champions League knockout stage despite 1-1 draw with Al Sadd    Finance minister: All Vision 2030 projects have sustainable funding that won't affect public finances    Crown Prince announces medium-term debt strategy to diversify funding sources "A resilient economy capable of overcoming challenges reflects progress towards achieving Vision 2030 goals"    'No excuses' for Israel to not accept ceasefire deal, EU foreign policy chief says    Alkhorayef highlights role of National Initiative for Global Supply Chains in boosting Saudi economy    Saudi Arabia signs investment deals worth SR35bn with foreign firms to strengthen global supply chains    Saudi Arabia unveils updates on Expo 2030 Riyadh master plan at 175th BIE General Assembly Riyadh Expo Development Company established to oversee strategic planning, operations, and legacy development    Riyadh Season draws 8 million visitors in 6 weeks    Saudi FM attends Quadripartite meeting on Sudan in Italy    Gangsters block aid distribution in south Gaza    Russian deserter reveals war secrets of guarding nuclear base    Georgia's new parliament opens first session amid mass protests and boycott    Best-selling novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford dies    Cristiano Ronaldo's double powers Al Nassr to 3-1 win over Al Gharafa in AFC Champions League    Al Ahli edges Al Ain 2-1, bolsters perfect start in AFC Champions League Elite    Al-Falih: 1,238 foreign investors obtain premium residency in Saudi Arabia    Most decorated Australian Olympian McKeon retires    Adele doesn't know when she'll perform again after tearful Vegas goodbye    'Pregnant' for 15 months: Inside the 'miracle' pregnancy scam    Do cigarettes belong in a museum?    Order vs. Morality: Lessons from New York's 1977 Blackout    India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold    The Vikings and the Islamic world    Filipino pilgrim's incredible evolution from an enemy of Islam to its staunch advocate    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Hong Kong police criticized over failure to stop attacks on protesters
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 22 - 07 - 2019

Hong Kong police faced criticism on Monday for an apparent failure to protect anti-government protesters and passersby from attack by what opposition politicians suspected were gang members at a train station over the weekend.
Sunday's attack came during a night of escalating violence that opened new fronts in Hong Kong's widening crisis over an extradition bill that could see people from the territory sent to China for trial in Communist Party-controlled courts.
Protesters had earlier on Sunday surrounded China's main representative office in the Asian financial hub and defaced walls and signs and clashed with police.
Hong Kong's Beijing-backed leader, Carrie Lam, condemned the attack on the Central Government Liaison Office, saying it was a "challenge" to national sovereignty.
She condemned violent behavior of any kind and said she had been shocked by the clashes at the station, adding that police would investigate fully. "Violence will only breed more violence," Lam said while flanked by senior city officials.
Some politicians and activists have linked Hong Kong's shadowy network of triad criminal gangs to political intimidation and violence in recent years, sometimes against pro-democracy activists and critics of Beijing.
Hong Kong has been hit by a series of sometimes violent protests for over two months — its most serious crisis since the city was handed back by Britain to China in 1997 but with democratic freedoms under a "one country, two systems" formula.
On Sunday night, scores of men in white T-shirts, some armed with clubs, flooded into the rural Yuen Long station and stormed a train, assaulting passengers with pipes, poles and other objects, according to video footage.
Witnesses, including Democratic lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, said the men appeared to target black-shirted passengers who had been at an anti-government march.
Lawmaker Lam, who was wounded in the face and hospitalized, said the police ignored his appeals to them to intervene to prevent bloodshed. "They deliberately turned a blind eye to these attacks by triads on regular citizens," he told Reuters, saying the floors of the station were streaked with blood.
"I won't speculate on why they didn't help immediately."
Later on Monday night, a police spokeswoman confirmed the arrests of two men, aged 45 and 48, related to an unlawful assembly in Yuen Long. They provided no other details.
Forty-five people were injured in the violence at the station, with one in critical condition, according to hospital authorities.
Hong Kong police chief Stephen Lo, asked about concerns that officers had been slow to respond to the clash at the station, said there had been a need to "redeploy manpower from other districts".
Police stations nearby had closed, given the risk of unrest, and a patrol on the scene needed to wait for reinforcements, he said.
"We will pursue at all costs to bring the offenders to justice," he told reporters, while pledging to restore public confidence in the police force.
Asked by a reporter if police had colluded with triads at the station, Lo said the force had no connections to triads.
Witnesses saw groups of men in white with poles and bamboo staves at a nearby village but police later found no weapons and allowed the men to leave without making any arrests.
"We can't say you have a problem because you are dressed in white and we have to arrest you," said Yau Nai-keung, an assistant police commander in the area. "We will treat them fairly no matter which camp they are in."
Some banks, shops and government facilities in the area closed early on Monday amid fears of more trouble, and few people ventured out on the streets, eyewitnesses said.
In 2014, Hong Kong's anti-triad police units investigated triad gang attacks on protesters during pro-democracy demonstrations that shut down parts of the city for 79 days.
Alvin Yeung, a barrister and lawmaker with the pro-democracy Civic Party, said he was sure the railway station attackers were gang members.
"I hope that the police will not deceive themselves. It is a triad fight, and not a normal confrontation."
Under the terms of the 1997 handover from Britain, Hong Kong was allowed to retain extensive freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland under a "one country, two systems" model, including an independent judiciary and the right to protest.
Many city residents fear that the proposed extradition law, which would allow people to be extradited to mainland China for trial, would undermine Hong Kong's judicial independence.
The city's Beijing-backed government, responding to the scale of the protests, postponed the bill and later said it was "dead". But the protesters are demanding its formal withdrawal and urged city leader Lam to quit - something she refuses to do.
They are also demanding independent inquiries into the use of the police against protesters. Some are also demanding full democracy - anathema to Beijing's party leadership.
In a rare comment, the pro-establishment Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce strengthened earlier criticism of the bill and issued a statement urging its full withdrawal.
They also endorsed calls for an independent inquiry, acknowledging "frustrations" surrounding perceptions that public demands were being ignored.
On Sunday, police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse activists after thousands ringed Beijing's Liaison Office. Police said protesters hurled bricks, smoke grenades and petrol bombs during the unrest that broke out after hundreds of thousands marched through the city streets.
The Chinese government, including office director Wang Zhimin, condemned the turmoil, which included spray-painting and hurling eggs at walls and a national emblem at the Liaison Office, saying the behavior challenged the "authority and dignity" of the Chinese government.
A foreign ministry spokesman said such acts tested Beijing's limits. "Some radical protester behavior violated our bottom line of 'one country, two systems'. We cannot tolerate that," said spokesman Geng Shuang.
The unrest in Hong Kong marks the greatest popular challenge to Chinese leader Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012. — Reuters


Clic here to read the story from its source.