A banner with the words "Defend Yuen Long's harmony and maintain regional tranquility" is displayed on a street in Yuen Long, Hong Kong on Tuesday. Photo: Yang Sheng/GT

Thirty-nine Hong Kong pro-establishment legislators issued a joint statement Tuesday, condemning radical forces for maliciously damaging the graves of a legislator's ancestors. 

The radical forces claimed that the legislator, Junius Ho Kwan-yiu, was connected with the individuals in white clothes, who had reportedly chased and beaten protesters in black clothes with bamboo sticks, in Yuen Long Mass Transit Railway (MTR) station on Sunday. 

In addition to attacking Ho online, making his family's personal information public and damaging his office, radical forces even damaged his ancestors' graves by painting insulting messages on them, read the joint statement. 

"These malicious, unlawful behaviors traumatized the legislator's family, and this is something that Hong Kong's laws and society cannot tolerate," the joint statement said. 

The 39 legislators called on society to stop the violence and asked police to bring these offenders to justice. The joint statement came after photos of Ho's parents' tombstones being vandalized were circulated online. One photo showed a person making indecent gestures in front of the grave. 

As a pro-establishment member of the Legislative Council representing Tuen Mun District, Ho had previously served as president of the Law Society of Hong Kong. 

Ho, his relatives, assistants and other villagers went to Ho's parents' graves on Tuesday. Ho said that Chinese culture attaches importance to filial piety, and that the radical forces could have simply talked to him instead of vandalizing his parents' graves. He urged attackers to turn themselves in to police  immediately, and called on society to cease such actions. 

The graves were not the only things damaged during the attacks, as Ho's offices at Tin Shui Wai and Tuen Mun were also vandalized on Tuesday afternoon, according to Hong Kong media reports. Some individuals posted slogans on the gates of his Tuen Mun office, attached women's hygiene products and even placed white flowers in the area. 

A day prior to all of this, the glass walls of his office in Tsuen Wan were broken, and an online petition was launched on the White House's petition page calling for Ho and his immediate family members to be made ineligible to enter the US and acquire visas.

The radical forces claimed that their actions were triggered by an online video showing Ho shaking hands with the individuals in white clothes and thanking them after they had beaten those in black clothes at Yuen Long MTR station. 

Most of the people in black clothes were beaten after they had joined a demonstration on Sunday to protest against the extradition bill that could allow the Chinese mainland to extradite criminals from the Hong Kong region. And some radical protesters even besieged the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong and tarnished the national emblem of China. The violent demonstrations have severely affected ordinary Hong Kong residents' life. 

Police on Tuesday arrested a total of 11 people for illegal assembly in connection with the attacks at Yuen Long MTR station on Sunday. 

Tam Yiu-chung, a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, told the Global Times that destroying ancestors' graves was too much, and that such an act showed traditional Chinese thought has been completely damaged. 

He believed that there was no evidence to accuse Ho of planning the Yuen Long MTR station attack. Ho is very familiar with local people and "there is no problem shaking hands when meeting them," Tam said.

By targeting Ho, radical forces aimed to turn Hong Kong residents against pro-establishment parties with regard to the Yuen Long attack, Hong Kong legislator Horace Cheung Kwok-kwan told the Global Times.

Radical protesters in Hong Kong block a road and assault police on Sunday. Their behavior was widely condemned. Photo: Fan Lingzhi/GT

According to an editorial published by Hong Kong-based Sing Tao Daily on Tuesday, violence is like a plague that will spread, deteriorate, and invade society as a whole, and will eventually result in catastrophe once control is lost. Now residents and the government must work together to stop further violence.

Some outside forces and Hong Kong opposition forces attempted to divert the public attention from riots that stormed the liaison office and insulted the national emblem to their narrative that "innocent residents were beaten" in Yuen Long incident, and kept making groundless remarks on the incident.

On Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying reiterated the country's stance to resist foreign interference and slammed former governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten for his remarks on the Yuen Long incident.

"Mr. Patten called the Yuen Long incident the most serious violent case since Hong Kong returned to its motherland 22 years ago, but how did he view the behavior of some radical protesters who stormed the Hong Kong Legislative Council and the liaison office?" Hua said at a routine press conference on Wednesday.

Patten chose to turn a blind eye and avoid talking about riots striking at the foundation of the rule of law in Hong Kong and everyone saw clearly his intention, Hua said. "China firmly opposes any external forces attempting to intervene in Hong Kong affairs and we hope they could shut up and back down immediately," she said. 

The mainstream Hong Kong media backed by opposition and Western forces distorted the truth and incited the public to target the pro-establishment parties, Brave Chan Yung, vice-chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, told the Global Times. 

The Western forces have always adopted double standards, Chan said. They severely criticized the restrained Hong Kong police but turned a blind eye to their own police in dealing with incidents like yellow vest protestors, he said. 

Chan noted that Western forces like the US are trying to mess up and "kidnap" Hong Kong to further their interests on issues like trade disputes with China.