HK government denies using triad gangs to break up protests

If triads were used, either by the authorities or the police, it would be absolutely no surprise.

The HK government is ultimately controlled by Beijing. This is why it is so important that the people of HK be allowed to vote for politicians who are not attached to strings held by Beijing. Beijing was never going to allow universal suffrage despite all the promises. There was always going to be strings attached. I have also noticed a lot of those opposed to these demonstrations are either old people who'll have kicked the bucket when the 50 years are up, or are well-off people (who most probably have a foreign passport as a back-up).

The culture, language and mentality of the HKers are completely different to those of the mainland and Beijing is trying to flood the region in the hope of wiping out local culture. There are also a lot of social problems caused by the lack of hospital beds (a large proportion of births involve mothers who have hopped over the border), the large number of shops who cater to mainland visitors only (you'd think Burberry and LV could make a killing if they set up more shops in the mainland) and the attempt to introduce more patriotism in the education system. It will be a sad day when the relatively free press and media of HK drops down to the level of Japan, never mind China.

Pukey2 is correct in the analysis on HK- Beijing is taking charge and now is watching the world to see how far it can go. the Upswing of Shanghai for business and banking in recent times was in part to separate Hong Kong from being that haven for the west. the other move was the gutting of the Hong Kong film industry- now all film being released are part of the Beijing effort- even Jackie Chan has seen the light taking a high Party position and criticizes Hong Kong residents for not conforming to central party ideas.

The Party understands that with time, other countries will shy away from lending any assistance especially when it affects lucrative business deals. - so Hong Kong is pretty much on it;s own.

i expect this to be the last of the big protests- to die off with no real support from the rest of the world

I wouldn't put it past them!

Triads in alliance with the HK government. No surprise there.

Chiang Kai-shek did exactly the same thing against unionists and students in Shanghai in the 1920s and his chums in the Green Gang turned the city in to a bloodbath.

Unknown who hired these particular thugs, but the CPC has used triads in the past sometimes to do their dirty work.

Normal for most countries. People seem to forget the government is made up of humans. Humans being things that love money, power, and control. If they loose their control, what makes you think they wouldn't break a few rules to get back their power? It's a no brainer here. They obviously used gangs to attack because the police would look bad doing the dirty deeds, which explains why the police did nothing.

Atare mae, the Yakuza have done that here in Japan.

Communist China would not stop short of anything to achieve their objectives. The security force can dress up as civilian counter protesters and creating schemes to split and crash the students in Hon Kong. Mao Tse tung did it during cultural revolution with millions dead without fair trials, Hitler, Khmer Rouge, and Putin in Ukraine, all using same tactics. Shame.

Bgood Communist China would not stop short of anything to achieve their objectives. The security force can dress up as civilian

Sorry -democratic Ukraine in such siuation using machine-guns artillery and aviation

Just because the HK government is not infamous for using these DIRTY tactics, does not mean that BIG BROTHER BEIJING cares about HUMAN RIGHTS and let alone them pesky Hong Kong folk who do not even speak Mandarin. Ask any CHINESE and most know how bad their own GOVERNMENT can really be. So BEIJING using the LOCAL CHINESE TRIAD MAFIAS to beat up, scare and rape local protesters sound just about right for BEIJING!