Hong Kong protests: Thousands converge on town where mob rampaged

AKIPRESS.COM - Thousands of protesters converged Saturday on the satellite town in Hong Kong where an armed mob attacked some of them last weekend, defying a police order and raising the possibility of more confrontations and violent clashes, The New York Times reports. The protest in the district, Yuen Long, is in response to an assault there by more than 100 men on demonstrators and others in a train station there on Sunday night. The attackers, who were wearing white T-shirts and carrying sticks and metal bars, injured at least 45 people.
As hundreds of demonstrators in black shirts arrived at the same station where the attack occurred, Cary Lo, a 37-year-old compliance officer and community officer for the Democratic Party of Hong Kong, said they had gathered there because they believed there was safety in numbers.
"We have come here because we still support all the actions of the people here today: anti-extradition, anti-violence and the core values of Hong Kong," he said. He held a yellow umbrella, a symbol of the pro-democracy protest movement.
The Hong Kong police were criticized for their slow response to the mob attack Sunday, and they did not detain anyone in Yuen Long that night. They have since arrested 12 men in connection with the attack, including some accused of having connections with the gangs known as triads.