Why triad gangsters may have attacked pro-democracy Hong Kong protesters

Hong Kong police continue to investigate the motive behind aviolent attack against pro-democracy protesters at a subway station in the Yuen Long neighbourhood over the weekend.

Some of the attackers were masked individuals, wearing white shirts and armed with rods, and are believed to have connections to triads,powerful organized crime syndicates in Hong Kong.

The attack, which left dozens injured,followed the latest pro-democracy rally that day where more than 100,000 people demonstrated. That protest took a violent turnas police launched tear gas at protesters. During thatprotest, some demonstrators directed their ire at China, pelting its office in Hong Kong with eggs, spray-painting a wall and defacing the Chinese national emblem

Yet some pro-democracy activists are accusing government officials ofbeing behind the suspected triad attacks, accusations authorities have rejected as groundless.

CBCNews explains who the triads are and their possible connection to government officials.

What are triads?

Triads are organized criminal syndicates founded in the 17th century in China that have a "strong patriotic doctrine and emphasis on such values as loyalty, righteousness, secrecy and brotherhood," says T. Wing Lo, a professor in the social and behavioural sciences department at the City University of Hong Kong.

But over the past two decades, according toWing Lo, who specializes inChinese organizedcrime and triad societies, many of theirrituals and secretinitiation ceremonies have been simplified or abandoned. Meanwhile, the traditionsof "brotherhood and loyalty have more or less disappeared or have been modified," he co-wrote in an article titled: How Triad Societies Respond to Socioeconomic Change.

Some of the triad societies includethe 14K, the Sun Yee On and the Wo Shing Wo. They are involved in different forms of violence and street crimein Hong Kong.Those crimesincludeextortion, blackmail, protectionrackets, illicitinternet gambling,narcotic trafficking andloan sharking.

Triad societies have always been a problem in Hong Kongbut one that was well-contained during the British administration, Steve Vickers, the former head of the RoyalHong Kong Police criminal intelligence bureau, said in an email.

"Unfortunately, during the period since the 1997 handover, the Hong Kongauthorities have not cracked down on them to the same extent as the former British administration did."

Why aretriad gangs suspected of beinginvolved in the attacks?

Hong Kong police say the attackers were part of local organized crime groups and that some of those arrested had "triad backgrounds."

There's also beena history of these groups attacking democracy protesters going back to the Umbrella Revolution of 2014, where Hong Kong students staged protests against proposed electoral reforms.

What is their possible connection to governmentofficials?

Ben Bland, director of theSoutheast Asia Project at the Lowy Institute think-tank in Australia, said that it's well-known "that in the past the Chinese government, the Communist Party, has worked with these groups in Hong Kong and similar thuggish gangs across China as unofficial enforcers."

There have also been claims that triads are very patriotic toward China and willing to work, through Beijing's United Front Work Department,with "friends of the [Communist] Party against its enemies," Bland said.

"This is theclassic sort of thing whereso long as you alignwith the common enemy, they're willing to co-operate on certain things. But of course it's also an uneasy relationship."

"Thugs for hire" is a common phenomenon in mainland China and across a wide range of countries, Lynette Ong, an associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, said in an email.

"Governments outsource violence to third-party agents for 'plausible deniability,' " she said.

Bland said the governmentcan use such gangs for hire to evict people from land they maywant to redeveloporto intimidate political dissidents.

"You can always say well, that wasn't the government, that was just these gangs. So it's useful, that plausible deniability," he said.

During theUmbrella Revolution of 2014, Hong Kong legislator James To said he believed the Hong Kong government "has used organized, orchestrated forces and even triad gangs in [an] attempt to disperse citizens."

Who else might have connections to theattackers?

In this case, the attackerscould possibly have been hired by business interests who, like the government, want the protests to end, Ong said.

The Yuen Long region, where the attacks took place, has a long history of triad activity particularly with 14 K and Wo Shing Wo subgroups, Vickers said.

In the last couple of weeks, there has been considerable tension between protesters and local businessmen who are very opposed to the demonstrators and their activities, Vickers said.

"So the question of who really 'pulled the trigger'remains open," hesaid

As well, thearea is home tocommunities that are relatively pro-Beijing politically because of the close proximity and because of the number of residents who have come there from mainland China, saidZhixing Zhang, senior East Asia analyst forgeopolitical intelligence firm Stratfor.

"We don't know the exact connections between the local police or Hong Kong government or let alone Beijing withthesetype of gangsters," Zhang said.

"What is clear is that thisattack is organized and they are attacking the pro-democracy camps, that the strategy or a goal is to intimidate those anti-government protesters"

Why are the Hong Kong police being criticized?

Members of the pro-democracy movement haveaccused the Hong Kong police of either ignoring the attacks orbeing complicit in these actions by not doing enough to protect people when they came under attack.

"There's certainly big questions for the police to answer over why they didn't try and stop these attacks," Bland said. "Theaccusation is that thepolice were either complicit or they looked the other way.

"It does look very suspicious and worrying to many people in Hong Kong, the sense that the police aren't willing or weren't able to defend individuals who came under attack from organized crime groups."