Police says two sides to blame for July 21 assault

Police said July 21 assault is an escalated conflict that arose by two sides and slammed media for saying police in cahoots with the triads.

Police arrested 13 local male this morning, aged 26 to 48 years old, for rioting on July 21 at Yuen Long Station. Senior superintendent Chan Tin-chu said the 13 men had attacked each other with fire hoses and fire extinguishers. 

One of the arrestees is lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting who has called the police at the crime scene. 

A reporter asked as Lam was the one who called the police when the July 21 assault took place, how did he commit a breach of the peace at the time? 

Senior Superintendent Chan Tin-chu said Lam's action has sufficiently shown that he is a part of rioting and that Lam calling the police is irrelevant from his actions at the scene.

"The constant dispute between the two groups of people with different opinions led to the escalation of the conflict," Senior Superintendent Chan said. 

Chan denied the July 21 incident was an indiscriminate attack.

The police criticized the media and netizens of having ulterior motives for accusing the police colluding with triads.

Chan added the police arrived at the Yuen Long station within 18 minutes, as opposed to 39 minutes claimed by others. 

A photo was displayed in the police press conference, showing that a riot police put his hand on a white-clad man's shoulder. 

Chan explained the photo was taken when police were dispersing the crowd at the time, the riot police were signaling the white clad-man to leave. He slams the media for reporting selectively as police have done the same action to black-clad men.

A reporter asked why riot police did not check and jot down ID cards from the white-clad men. In response, Chan said there were hundreds of people gathering at the time, and the police have to control the scene to avoid escalation of the conflict.

Chan questioned reporters in the press conference if they had forgotten there was a riot in Hong Kong Island on July 21, afternoon.

"There were thousands of protesters with weapons gathered, how can police jot down their ID number?" Chan said.