As anti-extradition protesters planned another mass march in the suburb where pro-China thugs attacked train passengers last weekend, China's defense ministry said on Wednesday that People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops could be deployed in Hong Kong, if requested by the city authorities.
Defense ministry spokesman Wu Qian said the ruling Chinese Communist Party is "closing monitoring developments" in Hong Kong, following a series of mass, peaceful marches against extradition to mainland China and vicious attacks on train passengers by men in white shirts wielding wooden and metal bars last Sunday.
Wu said Article 14 of Hong Kong's Garrison Law governing the People's Liberation Army (PLA) presence in the former British colony provides for the use of Chinese troops, but only at the Hong Kong government's request.
"We've been closely monitoring developments in Hong Kong, especially the protest march and the violent incident on July 21, as well as the storming of the liaison office," Wu said, in an apparent reference to protesters who hurled paint and eggs at Beijing's Central Liaison Office, which wasn't broken into.
"As for whether or not the PLA could get involved, the defense ministry would like to point out that the Garrison Law has clear rules on this," he said.
Asked about the daubing of China's national emblem in black paint by anti-extradition protesters after the peaceful mass march had ended, Wu repeated the official line that Beijing views such actions as a challenge to its authority.
"The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office [of China's cabinet, the State Council] has already responded earlier that it is not acceptable for anybody to challenge the country's authority," he said.
Hong Kong current affairs commentator Liu Ruishao said it was very rare for the defense ministry to comment on the running of the garrison in Hong Kong.
"Recently, the commanders of the PLA's Hong Kong garrison have indicated to U.S. army officers and to overseas media that the garrison won't get involved in Hong Kong's internal affairs," Liu said. "The former deputy head of the Central Party School, Li Junru, has also told journalists that internal Hong Kong security matters are the responsibility of the Hong Kong police force, and not a defense matter."
"So, for the defense ministry spokesman to say that they are closely monitoring the situation means that Beijing was perhaps viewing the Hong Kong situation as if through a periscope, but that it is now gradually moving closer to the surface," he said.
Brief subway protest
Protesters on Wednesday temporarily disrupted services on Hong Kong's subway system, the MTR, in protest at the railway operator, which has been criticized for allowing white-shirt and baton-wielding attackers access to Yuen Long's West line suburban station ahead of Sunday's attacks.
Pro-democracy lawmakers and civil groups have also hit out at the police for failing to intervene to prevent the attacks for around one hour. Police have said they were waiting for backup, but have yet to arrest any of the white-shirts for violent offenses. Eleven men have been arrested for "illegal assembly."
An eyewitness surnamed Leung told RFA: "Actually, a group of people in white shirts chased down a group of passengers and beat them up for nigh on half an hour. Some people saw that there were people getting beaten up outside, so they turned the fire hose on them to disperse them, but the same people came charging back in soon afterwards."
At the center of the controversy has been pro-China lawmaker Junius Ho, who has described the white shirts as "heroes."
An MTR passenger surnamed Ma said Ho's support for the white-shirt attacks, which he linked to the vandalism of China's national symbols by anti-extradition protesters, was unacceptable.
"So should I get beaten up just for attending a protest?" Ma said. "Junius Ho has said that the black-shirted protesters were led there by [pro-democracy lawmaker] Lam Cheuk-ting looking for trouble, but I have more sense than to fight a bunch of white shirts on Lam Cheuk-ting's say-so. I was a passenger when I went back to Yuen Long that day."
Earlier social media reports said at least one of the white-shirted men had been carrying a Chinese national flag, suggesting an intention to claim a patriotic motivation for the attacks.
Anti-extradition march organizers the Civil Human Rights Front on Tuesday described the attacks, which left dozens seeking treatment in hospital, as a form of "cross-border terrorism."
Tourism industry hit
Protesters say they will go ahead with a march against violence in Yuen Long on Saturday, regardless of whether police give approval or not.
Hong Kong Tourism Association executive director Timothy Chui said fear and uncertainty caused by the attacks has hit the tourism industry, as several countries upgraded their travel advisories to include words of caution for nationals traveling to Hong Kong.
The U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) warned British nationals to avoid large, public places, with similar warnings issued by the U.S., Japan, South Korea, Australia and Canada in relation to Hong Kong.
"Hong Kong is a commercial city ... and such warnings aren't just going to hit the tourism industry; they're going to affect our entire image," Chui said.
"It will make people from elsewhere think twice about holding meetings here ... and some may just think it easier to fly direct to cities in mainland China to hold their meetings, because it'll be a bit safer than in Hong Kong," he said.
Former colonial governor Chris Patten, now Lord Patten of Barnes, said Hong Kong's 30,000 police officers were "enough" to keep order in the city, and that it was surprising that nobody had done anything to stop the attacks, or indeed the storming of LegCo on July 1.
“That makes it all the more surprising they weren’t able to stop the people who got into the Legislative Council the other day, nor that they were available to stop innocent citizens being beaten up on their way home by thugs," he told government broadcaster RTHK.
“It’s a surprise that despite the fact there’re quite a lot of police officers in Hong Kong, nobody seemed to see that coming or be able to do anything to stop it.”
Death threats from gangster-friendly politician
Patten also called for a public inquiry.
“I think as well as making it absolutely clear that the extradition bill is dead and buried, there really is a powerful case… for a commission of inquiry, with perhaps an immediate remit to report on what happened in Yuen Long and at the end of the demonstrations on Sunday,” he said.
In Beijing, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying hit out at Patten's comments, saying he exhibits "selective blindness."
"China's position on this issue is rock-firm. We resolutely oppose any foreign forces' interference in Hong Kong's internal affairs and we advise them to stop doing so immediately," Hua told a regular news briefing on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, unidentified vandals have desecrated the graves of Junius Ho's parents.
Ho responded by issuing an apparent death threat to Land Justice League activist and pro-democracy lawmaker Eddie Chu, warning him in a Facebook post that he can choose life over death by handing over the names of those responsible for the vandalism.
But Chu said that there are signs that the vandalism may have been triad-related, based on the spray-painting of the characters "勝和", which would indicate a link to the Wo Shing Wo criminal organization. Photos of the graves currently making the rounds on the mainland Chinese internet have cropped the characters out, he said.
Secondly, the graves would be hard to find for non-residents of the rural village of Leung Tin, where they are located, and it would be unlikely that enough people and tools to lift huge slabs of marble could have entered the village unnoticed, particularly if the group was composed of outsiders unknown to local residents, and then leave again undetected.
A U.S. State Department spokesman called on all sides to exercise restraint and refrain from violence.
"Reports of organized violence by criminal gangs against private citizens, and attacks on journalists trying to do their jobs, are particularly disturbing," the spokesman said in a statement e-mailed to RFA, adding: "The continued erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy puts at risk its long-established special status in international affairs."
The statement also dismissed as "ridiculous" claims of U.S. involvement in the protests that have been repeatedly made by Chinese officials using the phrase "hostile overseas forces."
"The ongoing demonstrations in Hong Kong reflect the sentiment of the people of Hong Kong and their broad concerns about the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy," the statement said.
Reported by Tam Siu-yin, Lau Siu-fung and Wong Lok-to for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Lu Xi for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.