Police declare Saturday’s planned mass march near known triad area illegal but the stage is still set for an activist vs gangster confrontation
In a rare move, Hong Kong police have officially banned a protest scheduled to be held on Saturday (July 27) in the northwestern town of Yuen Long, where earlier this week a marauding gang with alleged links to triad criminal groups indiscriminately attacked pro-democracy protesters and others at a metro station.
Citing a risk of violence and challenge to public order, Anthony Tsang, the acting regional police commander for the New Territories North, said there is a “fairly high chance for both sides to clash” if the demonstration goes ahead.
Tsang said that the march’s planned route was too densely populated and narrow for a huge number of demonstrators, adding that it would end near indigenous villages where many of the triad-linked attackers are believed to reside.
Calls for aggressive retaliation against the criminal mob have also cropped up online, he said, raising fears that the border town could become the next flashpoint in Hong Kong’s escalating weeks-long political crisis.
Thousands are expected to defy police orders and march on Yuen Long tomorrow despite its official designation as an “unlawful assembly.” If the march proceeds, it would mark the eighth straight weekend of demonstrations that, while largely peaceful, have increasingly descended into violence as protesters adopt more radical tactics.
Nile Bowie is a writer and journalist with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.
In a rare move, Hong Kong police have officially banned a protest scheduled to be held on Saturday (July 27) in the northwestern town of Yuen Long, where earlier this week a marauding gang with alleged links to triad criminal groups indiscriminately attacked pro-democracy protesters and others at a metro station.
Citing a risk of violence and challenge to public order, Anthony Tsang, the acting regional police commander for the New Territories North, said there is a “fairly high chance for both sides to clash” if the demonstration goes ahead.
Tsang said that the march’s planned route was too densely populated and narrow for a huge number of demonstrators, adding that it would end near indigenous villages where many of the triad-linked attackers are believed to reside.
Calls for aggressive retaliation against the criminal mob have also cropped up online, he said, raising fears that the border town could become the next flashpoint in Hong Kong’s escalating weeks-long political crisis.
Thousands are expected to defy police orders and march on Yuen Long tomorrow despite its official designation as an “unlawful assembly.” If the march proceeds, it would mark the eighth straight weekend of demonstrations that, while largely peaceful, have increasingly descended into violence as protesters adopt more radical tactics.
Read the full story at Asia Times.
