Staff Followed Procedures During Gang Attack: MTR

The MTR Corporation's CEO, Jacob Kam, says his staff did everything they were supposed to do during Sunday night's mob attacks on West Rail Line passengers in Yuen Long, urging anybody unhappy with what happened to express their views "through normal channels".

Kam was speaking after protesters disrupted morning services on the MTR's Island Line for around 90 minutes on Wednesday, blocking the doors of a train at Admiralty Station, preventing that train and others along the line from moving.

Some of those caught up in Sunday's nights vicious attacks, which put 45 people in hospital, have complained they received no assistance from the MTR.

But Kam said his staff are forced to rely on the police to deal with such incidents.

"On the platform, and the control room, all our staff followed the procedures at the time, given the information they had at the time. They followed procedures trying to move everyone along as quickly as possible," he said.

"Everyone was following procedures, the police were called. Unfortunately serious violence had broken out. We are cooperating with police in their investigation. We always take the safety of our staff as well as our customers as our top priority."

Before Kam's plea for protesters not to target MTR services, calls had been made online for a repeat of such action on Thursday.

Meanwhile dozens of protesters turned up outside the MTR's headquarters, demanding answers from the management about the handling of the Yuen Long situation.

Some protesters demanded to know why were there so many staff at the headquarters when there was almost no one in Yuen Long during the violence.

They left after handing over a letter to the rail operator and posting a few sticky notes on the premises.

While anger has been directed at the railway company, far more criticism has been levelled at the police who admitted that officers weren't sent into Yuen Long Station to tackle the attackers for more than half an hour, by which point the gang had already fled.

Once the police left the scene, scores of men wearing white t-shirts and brandishing poles and rods, forced their way back into the shuttered station to continue their rampage.

Police have since made 11 arrests over the attacks, including one at the airport.