Rebel City. South China Morning Post Team

       — With reporting by Alvin Lum

A night of terror in Yuen Long

      Jeffie Lam

      On July 21, 2019, a white-shirted mob went on a rampage attacking protesters and ordinary Hongkongers.

      Before July 21, chef Calvin So Jee-leong had attended only one antigovernment protest. He was among the record-breaking 2 million people who, according to organizers’ estimates, braved the sweltering heat to march on June 16.

      He had gone only because his friends were going, and admitted that at the time he had no strong feelings about the extradition bill protests. “All I wanted to do after a 10-hour shift in the kitchen was play video games,” he recalled of his life at that time.

      He was unprepared for what happened to him on the night of July 21. It was about 9.45pm when he finished work at a restaurant in Yoho Mall, a shopping center next to Yuen Long railway station, and as he headed out he noticed something unusual. He muttered aloud: “There are lots of people in white clothes here.” Almost immediately, about 20 men armed with sticks and rattan canes began assaulting him. He tried to get away, but they continued raining blows on him. He dropped his smartphone as he fled, but the men chased after him and struck him several more times. So suffered severe injuries to his back, hands and legs and his shoulders swelled up. He spent three days in hospital, and was on medical leave for more than a month to recover.

      It was only the morning after the attack that he learned he was among more than 40 people assaulted during 45 minutes of terror, when about 100 men in white thrashed MTR passengers and members of the public at the station in northwestern Hong Kong. The masked men, believed to be triad gangsters from the area, descended on the station wielding sticks, rods and canes. Some waved Chinese national flags and placards that read: “Defend Yuen Long, defend our homeland.”

      As screams filled the air, they charged and struck at crowds taking the escalators, people on the platform – even passengers inside a train that stopped there. The thugs targeted people dressed in black – protesters on their way home after attending an anti-government demonstration elsewhere – but they also hit others in their way, women as well as men, including a handful of journalists and a pregnant woman. The assaults left several victims injured and bloodied, but police were nowhere to be seen. The mob attack was mostly over by the time officers showed up. The force came under intense criticism for taking so long to arrive at the scene, many accusing it of turning a blind eye to the attack or even colluding with the mob, a charge the force denied.

      The events in Yuen Long that night came to be known as “the July 21 incident” and marked a turning point in public attitudes toward police. There had already been criticism of police handling of protests, with accusations of brutality by some frontline officers. But the apparent inaction of police during the attack shocked even moderates, with some saying the incident made them lose all confidence in the force. Chef So, for one, said: “Most people did not consider police a very serious problem before July 21. People only wanted to hold one or two officers accountable for brutality. But now we realize it is not a problem of one or two frontline officers. There is something wrong with the police force, and the government which insists on backing it.”

      After that night, So began watching live broadcasts of protesters clashing with police, and started attending protests in his free time. At work, his colleagues switched from listening to pop music in the kitchen to tuning in to the proceedings of Legislative Council meetings and press conferences.

      Protests, clashes in the city, violence in Yuen Long

      The Yuen Long incident occurred while anti-government protesters were locked in pitched battles with riot police in the heart of the business district on Hong Kong Island. That Sunday afternoon, organizers estimated that 430,000 people had gathered to march from Causeway Bay to Wan Chai. Most were dressed in black and wearing masks. The protesters made their way to Sai Ying Pun, where radicals on the front lines broke away and laid siege to Beijing’s liaison office, throwing eggs and smearing the national emblem. It was to be a long night of clashes, with riot police firing rounds of tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.

      The trouble in Yuen Long was not entirely unexpected. From Sunday evening, word spread over social media that a crowd of suspicious-looking men wearing white T-shirts had gathered in the town, near Fung Yau Street East. Johnny Mak Ip-sing, a Yuen Long district councilor, said that he had filed a police report and had alerted a local sergeant to what he saw at about 8pm. In the city, protesters began receiving messages warning them not to get off at Yuen Long railway station if they were heading home to the New Territories. They were also advised not to wear black. At Central MTR station on Hong Kong Island, protesters left stacks of clothes of every color at the ticket machines, with written notes telling those going to Yuen Long to change out of their black protest gear.

      In Yuen Long itself, a message had spread the day before, advising residents not to wear black. Villagers in the district said afterward that rural leaders advised them to avoid going out on Sunday. It emerged later that Li Jiyi, director of the Beijing liaison office’s New Territories branch, had urged Yuen Long villagers to protect their towns and drive away any protesters, during a community banquet held 10 days before the attack.

      As word of imminent trouble in the town spread on Sunday evening, Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, who was at the protest on Hong Kong Island, decided to leave for the New Territories. He made his way to Mei Foo station, a mid-point between Hong Kong and New Territories West, a short distance from Yuen Long. Not long after arriving at Mei Foo, one of his companions received a video clip showing chef So being attacked. He got on a train heading for Yuen Long. “I called a police community relations officer at 10.22pm asking him to stop the attack, and was told that plainclothes officers had already been deployed,” Lam recalled afterward. “I also urged him to keep an eye on Long Ping and Yuen Long railway stations and he promised to pass the message to his seniors.”

      The moment the train doors opened at Yuen Long station, Lam heard a young man crying out for help. He was shocked by the scene unfolding before his eyes. The white-clad mob was beating anyone they came across with rods and rattan canes. There was blood on the floor, and broken sticks scattered everywhere. As the attackers charged into the paid area of the station, alarmed passengers yelled: “Don’t come in!” People tried protecting themselves with unfurled umbrellas, and grabbed children to shelter them. Some called out to others to avoid provoking the uncontrollable mob, as a group chanted defiantly at their attackers. A few tried to fight back using a fire hose and an extinguisher from the station, but they were overwhelmed as the white shirts stormed toward the platform.

      Passengers inside the train began screaming as they realized what was happening. The attackers struck the passengers for about 10 minutes. Video footage, captured by others in the carriage using smartphones, showed a man kneeling at the train door, imploring the mob to stop. Women were seen standing on their seats, pleading for mercy.

      “Please don’t beat us, I beg you,” one woman cried out.

      “I’m only trying to head home after a day’s work,” said another.

      “We are just civilians,” cried a third woman.

      Then the MTR made an announcement declaring services suspended and asking everyone to leave the train. But people refused to leave, fearing they would be attacked on the platform, where there were more men wearing white, armed and masked. It was past 11pm when the train driver, responding to passengers’ pleas for help, pulled away from the platform once the doors could close. The railway operator explained later that initially the driver could not see what was happening and was only aware that the doors were blocked.

      Video clips began circulating online and on television, showing the chaos as frightened passengers scrambled for cover. Lawmaker Lam, who posted live video footage over Facebook, was also attacked and needed 18 stitches for injuries to his mouth. Throughout the entire ordeal, police did not show up. Vincent Lo, a fourth-year university student, said that at about 10.30pm he saw a large crowd