Global Financial Market Review

The MTR Corporation decided on Friday night to close its Kwai Fong station early at 9pm over concerns about staff and passenger safety.

The railway explained that protesters had targeted the station late on Thursday evening, surrounding MTR staff and verbally abusing them.

Some sprayed graffiti both in and outside of the station, while facilities including the entry gate were vandalised. The MTR said the incident had led to the temporary closure of two entrances at Kwai Fong on Thursday morning, inconveniencing passengers.

In a statement, the railway said it is taking “all necessary action to uphold safety, including taking appropriate legal actions and making suitable regulation on station and train service operations if the situation so warrants.”

Condemning these “irresponsible acts which undermined the safety of MTR staff and passengers” the railway said it reserves the right to take actions such as seeking injunctions to ensure that “the safe and proper operations and use of our network can be assured.”

It said in future, if fights, vandalism, other forms of violence or emergencies occur at MTR stations, services may be completely halted with little or no notice, and the affected stations may be immediately closed.

“The Police may need to enter stations to take suitable law enforcement action when necessary”, the statement adds.