Police bring a suspect to an arson site outside the Legislative Council for crime scene reconstruction on Monday. Police have arrested six people suspected of setting a trash bin on fire outside the LegCo Complex on Dec 9. Edmond Tang / China Daily

Heavyweights warn of future escalation and possibility of more 'terrorist attacks'

The police arrested six men in connection with a blast triggered just outside the city's Legislative Council Complex two weeks ago, officers announced on Monday.

Some of the six men aged between 18 and 24 are college students. They were charged with conspiracy to commit arson. Police said more people could be arrested as the investigation progressed.

The case was an organized, premeditated attack on the LegCo building, police said. The alleged perpetrators had deliberately wrecked a fire alarm before committing the crime.

The police revealed the six men were linked to some "localist" organizations with online presence.

The suspects were described as "black bloc" members as they favored all-black clothing and sported dark glasses and face masks to conceal their identities.

The incident happened near the demonstration zone outside the LegCo building on Dec 9 while the second reading of the copyright bill was going on. No one was injured in the incident.

According to surveillance screenshots, a group of more than 10 men wearing hoodies and masks gathered at the demonstration zone. Later, they broke a fire alarm facility near a public toilet and pushed over metal barriers nearby before the blast went off.

Police believed the arsonists poured alcohol into a trash bin before lighting a fuse connected to a gas canister and then throwing it in.

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said on Monday the police would investigate the incident thoroughly in a strict manner. Hong Kong people enjoy full freedom of speech in a rational and lawful manner, Leung said, but the city did not accept violence or conduct that might endanger other people's rights and safety.

Chairman of the LegCo Panel on Security Ip Kwok-him was delighted that a breakthrough had been achieved in the investigation. He condemned the violent act and called it a "terrorist attack".

Local political analyst Song Sio-chong agreed such an incident should be categorized as a "terrorist attack". Song worried about the city's problems in education - as a series of destructive incidents had been undertaken by young people, many of them college students.

He said the city's education of young people had failed to fully convey the importance of law and order. Slim chances of climbing the social ladder and a blind pursuit of what they considered their "ultimate rightness" meant that, instead of venting their anger on the Internet, some young people now intended to transform their discontent into real action.

luisliu@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 12/22/2015 page7)