Pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho defends white-clad mob that attacked civilians in Hong Kong MTR station, says they can be ‘pardoned for defending their home’ </s> Pro-democracy activists and lawmakers in Hong Kong have accused the police of standing by as men dressed in white attacked commuters and protesters, leaving 45 people hospitalised, including one who is critically injured.

Video footage showed dozens of men, mostly in masks, storming a mass transit station in Yuen Long late on Sunday, chasing passengers and beating them with sticks. Among those hurt in the attack were demonstrators returning from a large anti-government rally, as well as a pregnant woman and a woman holding a child, according to witnesses.

The footage, which emerged after an anti-government march by hundreds of thousands of people, caused widespread anger and condemnation as protesters and critics accused pro-Beijing officials of hiring thugs to intimidate protesters – a charge that Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam vehemently denied in a briefing Monday afternoon.

“Is Hong Kong now allowing triads to do what they want, beating up people on the street with weapons?” the Democratic party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, who was among the injured, asked reporters.

A former legislator previously with a pro-Beijing party that usually supports Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, also criticised her over the attack. James Tien on Facebook called on Lam to resign, writing: “Chief executive Lam, are you still a chief executive? Or are triads ruling Hong Kong now?”

The pro-democracy lawmaker Ray Chan tweeted: “Hong Kong has one of the world’s highest cop to population ratio. Where were @hkpoliceforce?” Another lawmaker Gary Fan said: “Hong Kong is no longer a safe city”.

Flanked by Hong Kong’s police commissioner, security chief and government ministers on Monday, Lam attempted to deflect blame by condemning both sides. “Violence will only breed more violence and at the end of the day the whole of Hong Kong and the people will suffer,” she said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Journalist Ryan Lau Chun Kong tends to his wounds after he was attacked at Yuen Long station. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Details of the attack shocked residents. A woman sobbed while recounting what happened during the Yuen Long attack, telling one witness in audio circulated online: “They beat people in the carriage indiscriminately whoever they were, even people who were returning home from work … Some men were shielding us. They didn’t fight back otherwise we would have been beaten even worse. They beat even women and children.”

Video filmed inside the train showed passengers screaming and crying as they attempted to shield themselves with umbrellas. The attackers used metal and wooden rods, as well as canes and brooms.

Footage showed a young man dressed in black being punched and kneed in the stomach by several men. A female journalist was beaten while filming the attack. Photos showed commuters bleeding and smears of blood on the station ground.

When police arrived at the station after 11pm, the assailants had left and angry protesters demanded to know why they had taken so long to get there. Police left and the attackers later came back a second time, breaking into a closed gate of the train station.

Hong Kong’s hospital authority said 45 people between the ages of 18 and 64 were injured in the attack, including one man who was in a critical condition and three in a serious condition. Late on Monday, police said they had arrested five people – some of them allegedly Triads – in relation to the attacks on charges of “unlawful assembly”.

Ray Chan (@ray_slowbeat) Snippet of a live broadcast from lawmaker Lam Cheuk ting, showing self-professed pro-Gov't mobsters attacking passengers in train cars at #MTR #YuenLong Stn. #HongKong has 1 of the world's highest cop to population ratio. Where were @hkpoliceforce? Lam was injured as shown live. pic.twitter.com/Aq5JmJlf5u

On Monday, Yoho Mall, a shopping centre connected to the Yuen Long mass transit station, said some shops had closed amid rumours the armed men would return in the evening. Businesses outside the station in Yuen Long were also closed on Monday afternoon, leaving the normally colourful streets eerily quiet. Local public recreation centres were closed at 7pm due to “public safety considerations,” according to Hong Kong’s leisure and cultural services department. Many shops in the normally bustling shopping centres in the towns of Shatin and Tuen Mun have also closed.

Hiring men to beat up protesters is not a new tactic, according to activists and observers, who say thugs were also behind attacks on pro-democracy protests in 2014. Men, possibly from southern China, where the practice is more common, heckled and assaulted demonstrators.

A widely circulated video showed the pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho, who lives in Yuen Long, shaking hands with men in white and giving them a thumbs up. In response to accusations that he had hired the men to go after protesters, Ho said in a press briefing on Monday that he had nothing to do with the attack. Asked why he did not call the police, Ho said: “They appeared to be normal residents, just like the protesters in your eyes.”

Protesters later covered Ho’s office in pro-democracy sticky notes and threw documents of his over an escalator. Several who covered their faces with scarves and hats later broke down a glass wall of his office in a shopping mall in Tsuen Wan. One poster on the wall stuck on by protesters said: “Rural bullies beat up people and carry out terrorist attacks!”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Junius Ho’s office after it was trashed by protesters. Photograph: Philip Fong/AFP/Getty Images

In the early hours of Monday, morning police entered a village near the station in Yuen Long where groups of men in white had gathered but said they had seen no weapons and made no arrests because they “could not be sure of who was involved”.

On Monday, Lam and her colleagues were pressed on why police took so long to reach the attacks, even after several people had called emergency services. The police chief, Stephen Lo, said officers, at the time facing down protesters who had amassed near Beijing’s liaison office, had to be redeployed.

Lam was criticised after lambasting protesters for their “blatant challenge to national sovereignty” before condemning the Yuen Long attack in statements issued late on Sunday after protesters clashed with police. Asked if she would characterise the attack in Yuen Long as a terrorist attack, Lam said only that she condemned all kinds of violence.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Demonstrators march in Hong Kong on Sunday. Photograph: Ivan Abreu/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock

The protests, which began over a bill that would allow suspects in Hong Kong to be extradited to mainland China, have take on wider demands, including an investigation into police behaviour. The violence in Yuen Long and the police’s response is likely to be the focus of another protest.

On Sunday, thousands of protesters attending a peaceful anti-government march defied the police-sanctioned route and pushed westwards to Beijing’s representative office in Hong Kong, where they graffitied the building’s walls, threw eggs at it, and defaced the emblem of the People’s Republic of China.

Speaking outside the building on Monday, Wang Zhimin, the director of Beijing’s liaison office, said an “illegal mob” had “seriously hurt the feelings of the entire Chinese people”. Chinese state media called the attack a “blatant challenge to the central government”.

The demonstrations challenge Beijing’s authority over the former British colony, returned to Chinese control in 1997. Under the one country, two systems framework, Hong Kong is meant to maintain a high degree of autonomy from the mainland, with an independent judiciary and a free press. But critics say they have witnessed Hong Kong’s freedoms quickly disappearing.

Among protesters’ demands are democratic reforms that would give Hong Kongers the ability to directly elect their leaders. Protest groups have vowed to continue until their demands are met. “I don’t see this ending. It looks like it’s just going to escalate … it’s almost becoming ungovernable,” said Victoria Hui, a political scientist from Hong Kong, now at Notre Dame University. </s> Anger soared in Hong Kong today over a vicious assault on pro-democracy protesters by suspected triad gangsters that left dozens wounded, a dramatic escalation of the political turmoil plaguing the Chinese city.

The financial hub's roiling unrest took a dark turn late Sunday when gangs of men - most wearing white T-shirts and carrying bats, sticks and metal poles - set upon anti-government demonstrators as they returned from another huge march earlier that day.

Footage from the attack circulating on social media showed people screaming as the men beat groups of protesters and journalists in Yuen Long station and inside subway trains, leaving pools of blood on the floor.

Hospital authorities said 45 people were wounded in the attack, with one man in critical condition and five others with serious injuries.

Critics rounded on the city's embattled police force by accusing them of colluding with those who carried out the attack.

Protesters said officers of took more than an hour to reach the station despite frantic calls from those under attack, and then failing to arrest the armed assailants who stayed in the streets around the station into this morning.

Some men in white shirts were later filmed leaving the scene in cars with Chinese mainland number plates.

One video showed pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho shaking hands with the suspected gang members after the the attack, praising them as his heroes.

Witnesses of the attack, including Democratic lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, said the men appeared to target black-shirted passengers who had been at the anti-government march.

Lam, who was wounded in the face and hospitalised, said the police ignored calls he made, pleading with them to intervene and 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.

'Their very barbaric and violent acts have already completely violated the bottom line of Hong Kong's civilised society,' he told reporters early today.

A senior district police commander, Yau Nai-keung, said an initial police patrol had to wait reinforcements given a situation involving more than 100 people.

Yau told reporters the police had not made any arrests at the station or during a follow-up search of a nearby village, but were investigating.

Witnesses saw groups of men in white with poles and bamboo staves at the village but Yau said police saw no weapons when they arrived. Following some questioning of the men, they were allowed to leave, he told reporters.

'We can't say you have a problem because you are dressed in white and we have to arrest you. We will treat them fairly no matter which camp they are in,' Yau said.

Furious fellow pro-democracy lawmakers held a press conference on Monday where they accused the city's pro-Beijing leaders of turning a blind eye to the attacks.

'This is triad gangs beating up Hong Kong people,' fumed Alvin Yeung. 'Yet you pretend nothing had happened?'

The clashes have ratcheted up concern that the city's feared triad gangs are wading into the political conflict.

Yuen Long lies in the New Territories near the Chinese border where the criminal gangs and staunchly pro-Beijing rural committees remain influential.

Similar assaults by pro-government vigilantes against demonstrators during the 2014 'Umbrella Movement' protests were blamed on triads.

Hong Kong has been plunged into its worst crisis in recent history by weeks of marches and sporadic violent confrontations between police and pockets of hardcore protesters.

The initial protests were lit by a now-suspended bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China, but they have since evolved into a wider movement calling for democratic reforms, universal suffrage and a halt to sliding freedoms in the semi-autonomous territory.

The city's parliament was trashed by protesters earlier this month, as Beijing's authority faces its most serious challenge since Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997.

As the mob rampage unfolded in Yuen Long police were simultaneously battling hardcore democracy protesters in the middle of the city's commercial district.

Riot officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters, hours after China's Hong Kong Liaison Office was daubed with eggs and graffiti in a vivid rebuke to Beijing's rule.

Wang Zhimin, the head of the office, blasted the protesters on Monday, saying they had insulted 'all Chinese people' as he called on Hong Kong's government to pursue the 'rioters'.

Xinhua added the demonstration 'blatantly challenged the authority of the central government' and was 'absolutely intolerable'.

Earlier in the day, another huge and peaceful anti-government march had made its way through the city -- the seventh weekend in a row that residents have come out en masse.

Six weeks of huge protests have done little to persuade the city's unelected leaders -- or Beijing -- to change tack on the hub's future.

Under the 1997 handover deal with Britain, China promised to allow Hong Kong to keep key liberties such as its independent judiciary and freedom of speech.

But many say those provisions are already being curtailed, citing the disappearance into mainland custody of dissident booksellers, the disqualification of prominent politicians and the jailing of pro-democracy protest leaders.

Authorities have also resisted calls for the city's leader to be directly elected by the people.

Protesters have vowed to keep their movement going until their core demands -- such as an independent inquiry into police tactics, an amnesty for those arrested, a permanent withdrawal of the bill, universal suffrage and Lam's resignation -- are met.

There is little sign that either Lam or Beijing will budge.

Beyond agreeing to suspend the extradition bill there have been few other concessions and fears are rising that Beijing's patience is running out. </s> Anger soared in Hong Kong today over a vicious assault on pro-democracy protesters by suspected triad gangsters that left dozens wounded, a dramatic escalation of the political turmoil plaguing the Chinese city.

The financial hub's roiling unrest took a dark turn late last night when gangs of men - most wearing white T-shirts and carrying bats, sticks and metal poles - set upon anti-government demonstrators as they returned from another huge march earlier that day.

Footage from the attack circulating on social media showed people screaming as the men beat groups of protesters and journalists in Yuen Long station and inside subway trains, leaving pools of blood on the floor.

Hospital authorities said 45 people were wounded in the attack, with one man in critical condition and five others with serious injuries.

There are fears that more violent attacks would be carried out by triads today, prompting businesses in Yoho Mall, which is connected to the metro station, to close early, according to Apple Daily.

Critics rounded on the city's embattled police force by accusing them of colluding with those who carried out the attack.

Protesters said officers took more than an hour to reach the station despite frantic calls from those under attack, and failing to arrest the armed assailants who stayed in the streets around the station into this morning.

Some men in white shirts were later filmed leaving the scene in cars with Chinese mainland number plates.

One video showed pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho shaking hands with the suspected gang members after the attack, praising them as his heroes.

Witnesses of the attack, including Democratic lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, said the men appeared to target black-shirted passengers who had been at the anti-government march.

Lam, who was wounded in the face and hospitalised, said the police ignored calls he made, pleading with them to intervene and 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.

'Their very barbaric and violent acts have already completely violated the bottom line of Hong Kong's civilised society,' he told reporters early today.

Bowie Tin, 28, said she was travelling on the subway on her way home when the train stopped at Yuen Long station at about 10:55pm for more than 15 minutes.

'There were protesters dressed in black telling people not to get off the train because there was an ongoing attack downstairs at the station lobby,' she told MailOnline.

'They were also asking if there are doctors or nurses on the train because some people were hit in the head and were bleeding,' she added. 'I went out and saw masked men dressed in white attacking people in front of children, women and elderly people.'

'It was horrifying. I wanted to cry. I prayed for the train doors to close as soon as possible and I feared for my life,' she said.

A senior district police commander, Yau Nai-keung, said an initial police patrol had to wait reinforcements given a situation involving more than 100 people.

Yau told reporters the police had not made any arrests at the station or during a follow-up search of a nearby village, but were investigating.

Witnesses saw groups of men in white with poles and bamboo staves at the village but Yau said police saw no weapons when they arrived. Following some questioning of the men, they were allowed to leave, he told reporters.

'We can't say you have a problem because you are dressed in white and we have to arrest you. We will treat them fairly no matter which camp they are in,' Yau said.

Chief Superintendent John Tse Chun-chung, head of the police public relations bureau, denied the accusations, despite it taking officers more than half an hour to arrive at the scene.

'I cannot agree. Just because we were not at the scene right away, doesn't mean we colluded with any party,' he said in a radio programme today.

Furious pro-democracy lawmakers held a press conference today where they accused the city's pro-Beijing leaders of turning a blind eye to the attacks.

'This is triad gangs beating up Hong Kong people,' fumed Alvin Yeung. 'Yet you pretend nothing had happened?'

The clashes have ratcheted up concern that the city's feared triad gangs are wading into the political conflict.

Yuen Long lies in the New Territories near the Chinese border where the criminal gangs and staunchly pro-Beijing rural committees remain influential.

Similar assaults by pro-government vigilantes against demonstrators during the 2014 'Umbrella Movement' protests were blamed on triads.

As the mob rampage unfolded in Yuen Long police were simultaneously battling hardcore democracy protesters in the middle of the city's commercial district.

Riot officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters, hours after China's Hong Kong Liaison Office was daubed with eggs and graffiti in a vivid rebuke to Beijing's rule.

Wang Zhimin, the head of the office, blasted the protesters on Monday, saying they had insulted 'all Chinese people' as he called on Hong Kong's government to pursue the 'rioters'.

Xinhua added the demonstration 'blatantly challenged the authority of the central government' and was 'absolutely intolerable'.

Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam said the targeting of the office was a 'challenge' to national sovereignty, condemning violent behaviour of any kind.

She also described as 'shocking' the attack by organised triad criminal gangs on ordinary citizens and protesters at Yuen Long, saying authorities would investigate fully.

Earlier in the day, another huge and peaceful anti-government march had made its way through the city - the seventh weekend in a row that residents have come out en masse.

Hong Kong has been plunged into its worst crisis in recent history by weeks of marches and sporadic violent confrontations between police and pockets of hardcore protesters.

The initial protests were lit by a now-suspended bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China, but they have since evolved into a wider movement calling for democratic reforms, universal suffrage and a halt to sliding freedoms in the semi-autonomous territory.

The city's parliament was trashed by protesters earlier this month, as Beijing's authority faces its most serious challenge since Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997.

Six weeks of huge protests have done little to persuade the city's unelected leaders - or Beijing - to change tack on the hub's future.

Under the 1997 handover deal with Britain, China promised to allow Hong Kong to keep key liberties such as its independent judiciary and freedom of speech.

But many say those provisions are already being curtailed, citing the disappearance into mainland custody of dissident booksellers, the disqualification of prominent politicians and the jailing of pro-democracy protest leaders.

Authorities have also resisted calls for the city's leader to be directly elected by the people.

Protesters have vowed to keep their movement going until their core demands - such as an independent inquiry into police tactics, an amnesty for those arrested, a permanent withdrawal of the bill, universal suffrage and Lam's resignation - are met.

There is little sign that either Lam or Beijing will budge.

Beyond agreeing to suspend the extradition bill there have been few other concessions and fears are rising that Beijing's patience is running out. </s> Hundreds of masked assailants dressed in white have assaulted residents, protesters, journalists and a lawmaker in Yuen Long, hours after an anti-extradition law march ended.

Update: Hong Kong police made no arrests after mob assaulted commuters, protesters, journalists

The group used bamboo sticks and other weapons to attack people in the area and in the West Rail Line station, injuring Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, who was seen bleeding from his mouth in a social media live stream.

Police officers were not visibly present when the skirmish occurred.

See also: Hong Kong police deploy tear gas, rubber bullets against protesters as gov’t slams ‘direct challenge to national sovereignty’

A photo circulated online by the Civil Human Rights Front, which organised the rally attended by “430,000” earlier in the day, showed a person with multiple bloody lashes on his back.

Update: Church worker and Demosisto member left severely injured by Yuen Long attackers

﻿

The Front accused the police of failing to take actions in Yuen Long while people were being attacked and instead, unnecessarily firing tear gas at protesters in Sheung Wan.

“Real thugs have attacked passersby, a journalist and a lawmaker, badly injuring them, but the police have failed to enforce the law. This has angered us greatly,” the statement read.

The group said certain “powerful authorities” have been using “thugs” to attack protesters since the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement. “Hong Kong people must unite to oppose personal violence and structural violence,” they added.

Stand News reporter Gwyneth Ho said she was left bleeding and injured with swelling at the back of the head and slight dizziness after she was attacked. Ho was sent to hospital to receive treatment.

The Hong Kong Journalists Association said a male reporter was beaten and left bleeding in his mouth.

The men also took a reporter’s TV camera and destroyed it, the press freedom watchdog said.

Police in riot gear arrived at Yuen Long station at around 11:30pm.

The MTR announced at around 11pm that West Rail Line trains will not stop at Yuen Long because of the crowds gathering. Train services resumed at 11:25pm.

In a statement, a government spokesperson condemned the violent scenes: “This is absolutely unacceptable to Hong Kong as a society that observes the rule of law. The SAR Government strongly condemns any violence and will seriously take enforcement actions.”

Meanwhile, in a widely circulated online video, pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho could be seen applauding and giving a “thumbs up” to people dressed in white. He also shook hands with two men who held small Hong Kong bauhinia flags. When a man told Ho, “you are my idol,” the lawmaker replied: “All of you are my heroes.”

﻿

Earlier, Yuen Long District Councillor To Ka-lun wrote in a Facebook post that he had received a complaint from a resident, who said he had called the police for help. However, he was told to “not go out into the streets” if he was afraid, To said. </s> At least 45 people have been injured, one critically, after dozens of masked men attacked pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong. The protests against a Chinese extradition bill have been ongoing for seven weeks, but this is the first time this kind of violence has been seen, the BBC reports. The masked men were dressed in white shirts and are reportedly suspected to be triad gangsters. They attacked protesters and passers-by with wooden and metal rods inside a train station. In a statement, the government said: “This is absolutely unacceptable to Hong Kong as a society that observes the rule of law. The SAR [Special Administrative Region] Government strongly condemns any violence and will seriously take enforcement actions.” </s> HONG KONG: At least 45 people were injured, with one person in critical condition, after a group of masked men attacked anti-government protesters and commuters at a Hong Kong train station on Sunday night (Jul 21), according to the city's hospital authorities.



The group, many wielding sticks and clad in white T-shirts, flooded into a Mass Transit Railway (MTR) station in the rural Yuen Long district, storming a train and attacking passengers, according to footage taken by commuters and opposition lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting.



Footage from the attack broadcast live on Facebook showed people screaming as the men beat multiple protesters and journalists in the station, leaving pools of blood on the floor.

Critics rounded on the city's embattled police force, accusing officers of taking more than an hour to reach the station despite frantic calls from those under attack and then failing to arrest the armed men who stayed in the streets around the station into Monday morning.

Some men in white shirts were later filmed leaving the scene in cars with Chinese mainland number plates.

Lam, a pro-democracy lawmaker, was one of those wounded in the melee, sustaining lacerations to his face and arms. He criticised police for their response and accused "triad members" of being behind the attacks.

"Their very barbaric and violent acts have already completely violated the bottom line of Hong Kong's civilised society," he told reporters early on Monday.



"Is Hong Kong now allowing triads to do what they want, beating up people on the street with weapons?"



Nathan Law, a prominent pro-democracy activist, added on Twitter: "When the Chinese mobs are attacking the citizens, no law enforcement are there. Shame on the government."

The clashes have ratcheted up fears that the city's feared triad gangs are wading into the political conflict.

Yuen Long lies in the New Territories near the Chinese border where the criminal gangs and staunchly pro-Beijing rural committees remain influential.

Similar assaults by pro-government vigilantes against demonstrators during the 2014 "Umbrella Movement" protests were blamed on triads.

READ: Tear gas and rubber bullets fired as Hong Kong returns to chaos



As the mob rampage unfolded in Yuen Long, police were simultaneously battling hardcore democracy protesters in the middle of the city's commercial district.

Riot officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets at anti-government protesters, hours after China's office in the city was daubed with eggs and graffiti in a vivid rebuke to Beijing's rule.

Another 13 people were injured after the clashes on Hong Kong island, one seriously, the Hospital Authority said.

In a statement on Monday, police "strongly condemned" both the violent incidents in Yuen Long and Hong Kong island, and said they were investigating both cases. Police added no arrests had been made at the station or during a follow-up search of a nearby village.



Yau Nai-keung, Yuen Long assistant district police commander, told reporters that an initial police patrol had to wait for more reinforcements given a situation involving more than 100 people.

He added police saw no weapons when they arrived although eyewitnesses said they saw groups of men in white with poles and bamboo staves at a nearby village.



"We can't say you have a problem because you are dressed in white and we have to arrest you. We will treat them fairly no matter which camp they are in," Yau said.



Some police had been injured in the clashes after protesters hurled bricks, smoke grenades and petrol bombs, the statement said.

READ: What lies ahead for Hong Kong, a city on edge



Hong Kong has been plunged into its worst crisis in recent history by weeks of marches and sporadic violent confrontations between police and pockets of hardcore protesters.

The initial protests were lit by a now-suspended Bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China.

But they have since evolved into a wider movement calling for democratic reforms, universal suffrage and a halt to sliding freedoms in the semi-autonomous territory.

The city's parliament was trashed by protesters earlier this month, as Beijing's authority faces its most serious challenge since Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997. </s> HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong is bracing for another massive protest over an unpopular extradition bill, a week after the crisis brought as many as 1 million into the streets.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Saturday said she was suspending work on the bill that would allow some suspects to be sent for trial in mainland Chinese courts.

But pro-democracy activists say that's not enough. They want the proposal withdrawn and are calling for Lam to step down.

Mourners meanwhile laid flowers Sunday on the pavement near where a man fell to his death a day earlier after hanging a protest banner on scaffolding on a shopping mall.

Emergency workers tried to cushion the man's fall but failed to catch him. </s> HONG KONG (AP) — The Latest on protests in Hong Kong against an extradition bill (all times local):

Hong Kong's police commissioner says only people who committed violence will be charged with rioting during clashes between police and protesters outside the legislature on Wednesday, in an apparent attempt to defuse widespread public anger over aggressive police tactics.

Stephen Lo Wai-chung on Monday defended the police response to the protests by tens of thousands of people as appropriate. It included the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and steel batons against protesters who removed barriers. He described the fracas as a riot, but said only five of 15 arrested people were accused of rioting, a serious charge that can result in a prison term of up to 10 years.

Another 17 people were arrested in the vicinity on lesser charges.

Protesters in Hong Kong have gathered outside the office of the city's leader, demanding that she resign for her handling of an unpopular extradition bill.

The mostly young demonstrators blocked a street Monday near the city's waterfront as they stood outside the office of Chief Executive Carrie Lam, chanting calls for her to give up the proposed legislation.

Lam has apologized for the crisis and suspended work on the bill, which would allow suspects to face trial in mainland Chinese courts.

Protesters are demanding that she scrap the bill and that authorities apologize for how police quelled an earlier demonstration, using tear gas, rubber bullets and other forceful means. They also want the government not to prosecute those involved, and to withdraw Lam's designation of the protest as a "riot."

A member of Hong Kong's Executive Council has said the city's leader plans to apologize again over her handling of a highly unpopular extradition bill.

Lam Ching-choi told reporters that Chief Executive Carrie Lam was sincerely sorry for mishandling the issue, which drew an estimated 2 million people into the streets in protest on Sunday.

He said Monday that the "number does tell the story. A lot of Hong Kong people don't think the government is thinking very seriously about the present issues."

He said Hong Kong's leaders made a "big mistake" in not consulting the public before proposing the legislation.

He said, "I believe she will communicate her apologies to the public in the near future."

Joshua Wong, a leader in Hong Kong's 2014 Umbrella Movement demonstrations, headed to join protesters gathered near Hong Kong's government headquarters after his release from prison.

After speaking to journalists who mobbed him as he left the correctional facility Monday, Wong laid flowers at a makeshift memorial outside a downtown shopping mall where a protester fell to his death Saturday night after hanging a banner on some scaffolding.

Wong's release came as protesters were still gathered near Hong Kong's government headquarters after a protest over an extradition bill promoted by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam. Organizers said the march drew nearly 2 million people.

"Hello world and hello freedom. GO HONG KONG!! he said in a tweet. "Withdraw the extradition bill. Carrie Lam step down. Drop all political persecutions."

Wong served half of a two-month sentence for contempt related to his involvement in the 2014 protests advocating a more democratic elections process.

A former legislator says protesters are angry their demands are not getting a response from Hong Kong's leader and he sees their current mission as planning for the long term.

After a massive demonstration on Sunday, the remaining protesters who stayed overnight agreed to get off the roads and allow traffic to return to normal in the area Monday morning. They say the suspension of the extradition bill that set off the past week's demonstrations was not enough. They want the bill to be dropped entirely and for leader Carrie Lam to resign.

Former Hong Kong legislator Lee Cheuk-yan says the activists' mission has become a long-term struggle and not a daily struggle. "So if Carrie Lam does not respond to the five demands by the protesters, people will come back and the struggle will continue."

Joshua Wong, a leading figure in Hong Kong's 2014 Umbrella Movement demonstrations, has vowed to join the latest protests after he was released from prison.

Wong's release Monday came as protesters were gathered near Hong Kong's government headquarters after a protest on Sunday that organizers said drew nearly 2 million people.

He told journalists that he needed a bit of time but that "no matter what happens, I will join the protest soon."

Wong served half of a two-month sentence for contempt related to his involvement in the 2014 protests advocating a more democratic elections process.

The latest protests were set off by an extradition bill that would allow some criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trials. The legislation has been suspended but residents worry it is a sign of weakening judicial independence in Hong Kong.

Protesters in Hong Kong have begun leaving the streets and gathering near the city's government headquarters.

The demonstrators who stayed after a massive protest march the day before were seen streaming Monday morning into a space outside Hong Kong's Legislative Council after police who had cleared it reopened the area.

Their decision to leave major streets allowed police to reopen them to traffic, averting the possibility of clashes similar to those that broke out June 12, resulting in about 80 people being injured.

Activists were staging strikes and other smaller events Monday. There are demanding that Hong Kong Chief Executive scrap a proposed extradition bill that she has suspended under intense pressure from residents worried it would undermine legal protections in the former British colony.

Protesters in Hong Kong have refused police requests to clear the streets.

A policewoman using a loudspeaker asked them to cooperate Monday morning as police lined up several officers deep and faced them.

A woman in black speaking for the protesters responded with her own microphone. She said they were not blocking anyone from getting to work and would leave only after Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam came to hear them out.

Police removed some of the barriers protesters had set up but refrained from using force. The protesters later put the barriers back and remained.

They are among hundreds who stayed overnight after a huge protest Sunday against a bill that raised fears about China's control of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong police and protesters are facing off Monday morning as authorities try to clear the streets of a few hundred people who stayed near the city government headquarters after massive demonstrations that stretched deep into the night.

The police asked for cooperation in clearing the road. Protesters responded with chants, some kneeling in front of the officers. The move came after activists rejected an apology from the city's top leader for her handling of legislation that has stoked fears of expanding control from Beijing in this former British colony.

Nearly 2 million of the city's 7 million people turned out on Sunday, according to estimates by protest organizers. Police said 338,000 were counted on the designated protest route in the "peak period" of the march.
Pro-Beijing legislator Junius Ho applauds the assailants for their actions, saying they should be "pardoned for defending their homes" and calling them his "heroes".