Hong Kong gangs clash with student protesters
BEIJING – Organized gangs of masked men clashed Monday with Hong Kong protesters, prompting a leading Hong Kong security consulting firm to warn that police are likely to use “decisive force” to end the Occupy Central demonstrations in the near future.
The security firm, Steve Vickers & Associates, is led by a former Hong Kong police commander who advises corporate clients in one of the world’s major trading centers. Driving the firm’s assessment was the role in the assaults of pro-Beijing organized crime outfits, including members of the notorious Triad gangs, with little intervention by government authorities.
“The blatant Triad involvement will cause longer-term difficulties in policing Hong Kong, post Occupy Central,” the firm said in a statement. “This situation is exacerbated by perceived inaction by government against senior level Triad office-bearers.”
Hong Kong protesters, many of them students or recent graduates, have occupied three parts of Hong Kong for more than two weeks now, disrupting traffic and many businesses. Protesters are demanding that China and its Hong Kong administrators allow citizens to choose their own candidates for Hong Kong’s chief executive in the 2017 election, as opposed to having a committee loyal to Beijing pick who can run.
On Monday, a group of counterprotesters, some wearing masks, showed up at the main protest site, in Admiralty. They attempted to dismantle barricades, flung themselves at protesters and then hung around for hours, mixing it up with police and trying to pick fights, according to reports from Hong Kong media.
Similar organized gangs attempted to shut down an ongoing protest in the Mong Kok section of Hong Kong a week ago Friday but were unsuccessful after police intervened and protesters brought in reinforcements. Some 19 people were arrested in that skirmish, and police later said that some were Triad members.
On Monday, before the scuffles in Admiralty, Hong Kong police reported that up to 200 gang members from two of the city’s major Triad groups had infiltrated the protest camps.