Officials condemn riot

Violence had nothing to do with govt policy on hawkers, chief executive says

A senior central government official in Hong Kong has strongly condemned last week's Chinese New Year riot in Mong Kok.

The riot, which began on the night of Feb 8 and lasted until the following morning, was hatched by "extreme separatist forces" that had become more emboldened and better organized, with increasingly violent acts that showed terrorist tendencies, Zhang Xiaoming, director of the Central People's Government Liaison Office in Hong Kong, said on Sunday.