China blames Hong Kong violence on Western forces, defends police

BEIJING — China blamed Western forces and defended police conduct in remarks Monday about Hong Kong after the city endured another weekend of violent clashes between protesters and police.

Yang Guang, spokesman for the Chinese Cabinet's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, said at a news briefing that some "irresponsible people" in the West have applied "strange logic" that prompted them to be sympathetic and tolerant to "violent crimes" while criticizing the police force's "due diligence."

"At the end of the day, their intention is to create trouble in Hong Kong, make Hong Kong a problem to China, in order to contain China's development," Yang said, without mentioning any specific individuals or countries.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘Gifts to Putin’: Ukraine rattled as Trump eases sanctions on Russian oil

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOne year on, Gaza ceasefire exists ‘in name only,’ aid groups say amid near-daily Israeli strikes

FOR SUBSCRIBERSMan City players have a huge cloud over them as they chase a title

FOR SUBSCRIBERSPentagon’s plan to livestream an execution resurrects America’s darkest history, critics say

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe perplexing case of a CIA officer who duped his fellow spies

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrustrated by a slowing economy, young Chinese turn to Mao Zedong for guidance

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDemocratic congressional candidates run anti-data center ads in states the party controls

FOR SUBSCRIBERSPolice found her roommate dismembered. Then they connected her to another years-old mystery.

FOR SUBSCRIBERSNonprofit collecting funds for Trump’s ballroom rakes in $320 million

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump administration’s deal with Nevada fuels data center fight in governor’s race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe legal questions behind plans to livestream an execution

FOR SUBSCRIBERSPhone a friend: Republicans lean on Cabinet members as they break with Trump

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCentrist think tank warns 2028 Democrats against swinging too far left on immigration

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRussia’s secrecy after a mysterious plague lab death raises global alarm

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAfter surviving a botched lethal injection, Christa Pike faces unprecedented legal battle

Slide 1 of 1

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘Gifts to Putin’: Ukraine rattled as Trump eases sanctions on Russian oil

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOne year on, Gaza ceasefire exists ‘in name only,’ aid groups say amid near-daily Israeli strikes

FOR SUBSCRIBERSMan City players have a huge cloud over them as they chase a title

FOR SUBSCRIBERSPentagon’s plan to livestream an execution resurrects America’s darkest history, critics say

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe perplexing case of a CIA officer who duped his fellow spies

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrustrated by a slowing economy, young Chinese turn to Mao Zedong for guidance

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDemocratic congressional candidates run anti-data center ads in states the party controls

FOR SUBSCRIBERSPolice found her roommate dismembered. Then they connected her to another years-old mystery.

FOR SUBSCRIBERSNonprofit collecting funds for Trump’s ballroom rakes in $320 million

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump administration’s deal with Nevada fuels data center fight in governor’s race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe legal questions behind plans to livestream an execution

FOR SUBSCRIBERSPhone a friend: Republicans lean on Cabinet members as they break with Trump

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCentrist think tank warns 2028 Democrats against swinging too far left on immigration

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRussia’s secrecy after a mysterious plague lab death raises global alarm

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAfter surviving a botched lethal injection, Christa Pike faces unprecedented legal battle

Slide 1 of 1

He added that such attempts will come to nothing because Beijing will tolerate no outside interference in the affairs of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

The protests in Hong Kong began in early June as a call to withdraw an extradition bill that would have allowed people in the former British colony to be sent to stand trial in mainland China, where critics say their legal rights would be threatened. Since the government indefinitely suspended the legislation, demonstrators have broadened their scope to demand greater democracy and government accountability.

Police on Sunday repeatedly fired tear gas and rubber bullets to drive back protesters blocking Hong Kong streets with road signs and umbrellas.

The protesters have demanded an independent inquiry into police conduct at the protests, which they say has been abusive.

At least one woman was knocked down when police used rods Saturday to disperse crowds in Hong Kong's Yuen Long area, where officers later charged into a train station swinging batons. Protesters were "holding iron poles, self-made shields and even removing fences from roads," police said in a statement that accused demonstrators of putting officers' lives in danger by surrounding an occupied police vehicle.

Yang said the Chinese government firmly supports the police in Hong Kong.

"We understand the huge pressure facing the Hong Kong police and their families," he said, "and would like to salute the Hong Kong police who have been fearlessly sticking to their posts and fulfilling their duties against all odds."

Hong Kong's government and police force have said the protests have placed considerable strain on their officers, who are dispatched in large numbers for the protests, which occur at least once a week and generally go late into the night despite repeated appeals to disband. Hong Kong authorities said these pressures made it difficult for police to act immediately when a band of white-clad assailants beat people inside the Yuen Long train station on July 21.

Protesters said the slow police response to that attack indicated that officers were colluding with the attackers — an allegation that authorities have refuted. Last Monday, police arrested six men in connection with the attack, including some linked to triad gangs.