HK officials condemn multiple violent incidents

Lam was condemning the violence during the siege of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR in Sai Wan, Hong Kong Island－Beijing's top representative authority in the city－and the attacks in Yuen Long in the New Territories on Sunday night.

Lam and all principal officials of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government and the commissioner of police met with the media on Monday afternoon.

She said such violent acts are vicious and have caused citywide indignation. She also promised punishment for anyone involved in such acts.

A peaceful protest against the now-suspended extradition amendment bill on Sunday afternoon turned ugly at night as radical protesters besieged the Liaison Office.
They defaced the national emblem mounted at the entrance of the office and painted offensive graffiti on the office's exterior.

Lam said the vandalism is in blatant defiance of the nation's sovereignty and an open challenge to the "one country, two systems" principle. It has caused great harm to the SAR, which is governed under the principle, and it hurt the sentiments of people in Hong Kong and on the Chinese mainland.

Lam also strongly denounced the "astonishing and outrageous" attacks in Yuen Long in the New Territories. Late on Sunday night, attackers in white shirts, some wearing masks, assaulted bystanders and commuters at the Yuen Long subway station with bamboo sticks and metal poles. They said they were targeting radical protesters who have disrupted local order.

The attackers completely disregarded law and order as they indiscriminately assaulted innocent people, she said, adding that what they did was appalling and totally unacceptable. She requested that the police chief conduct an extensive and in-depth investigation into the incidents and punish those who violated the law.

The SAR government has zero tolerance for any kind of violence at any time, anywhere and toward anyone.

Commissioner of Police Lo Wai-chung pledged that the police investigation will begin immediately, and the force will pursue offenders at all costs in order to bring them to justice.

He also dismissed allegations that the police force acted leniently when facing the violent attackers at the Yuen Long subway station. The police force is against any kind of violence, Lo stressed.

Wang Zhimin, director of the Liaison Office, made the "strongest condemnation" of the vandalizing of the office on Sunday night.

Saying that Hong Kong has seen a series of radical protests that exceeded the boundaries of peaceful demonstration, Wang said these acts have challenged the city's rule of law and seriously undermined the fundamental interests of Hong Kong residents.

He said he believed the Hong Kong government and its law-enforcement bodies will punish those responsible according to the law.
Tung Chee-hwa, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said he was saddened by the desecration of the national emblem.

Tung said a small fraction of the community has taken advantage of an inclusive society and deliberately sabotaged Hong Kong's economy and social order in an attempt to undermine relations between the central government and the SAR.

More than 20 pro-establishment lawmakers issued a joint condemnation on Monday of the Liaison Office attack and the Yuen Long violence.