China uses Triads against Hong Kong democracy movement

[yuiyoshida]

Thugs seek to intimidate demonstrators, reports Asia Sentinel

Organized crime became the new weapon of the Hong Kong authorities on Oct. 3 as they endeavored to disperse the demonstrators still massed in Mongkok in the dense heart of Kowloon.

Dozens of tough looking men waded into the peaceful demonstrators causing fights and many injuries. Some were arrested by the police but there was no sign of tough tactics against obvious provocateurs.

Police advised the demonstrators to disperse for their own safety, a good way of trying to break up the demonstrations by using the thug incursion as the reason. Meanwhile the government lamely explained that these were probably the actions of citizens frustrated at the disruption to life and business caused by the pro-democracy encampment.

This simply infuriated the demonstrators who, like most Hong Kong people, knew that organized thuggery of this sort is the work of triads, the criminal gangs that are particularly strong in that part of Hong Kong “protecting” the many small businesses and one-woman brothels which operate in its old and crowded streets. When it suits them, the triads are prone to declare themselves be “patriotic” which provides a degree of political protection for their activities.

http://asiancorrespondent.com/127209/china-uses-triads-against-hong-kong-democracy-movement/