The hashtag #PrayForHongKong trended on Twitter in solidarity with Hong Kong amid attacks on pro-democracy protesters.
Social media users tweeted videos and pictures of Hong Kong citizens being attacked across the social media platform.
China’s National Defense Ministry reminded the citizens on Wednesday that at the request of the government of the islands, the People's Liberation Army could mobilize to “maintain social order”.
The declaration serves as a warning to demonstrators who defaced China's Hong Kong liaison office on Sunday at the end of another mass march against an extradition bill that could allow the Communist Party to undermine the islands’ independent judiciary.
What led up to the attacks?
Hong Kong has been hit by a series of demonstrations and escalating violence that started as a reaction to the government's effort to pass an extradition bill, which if adopted, the legislation would have permitted the transfer of fugitives in Hong Kong to locations with which the town has no extradition contracts, including mainland China.
Demonstrators have scheduled rallies across the land in parks, along primary highways, at the airport, and outside public offices – calling for an extradition bill to be withdrawn and other political requests to be made.
Yuen Long, a quiet residential neighborhood near the Chinese frontier, has become Hong Kong's unlikely next battleground, dispute it was never on the agenda, recognized as one of the most distant, isolated regions in the northeast, however, on Sunday that changed.
Passengers were chased, punched and slapped over the next half hour. Some dialed emergency services frantically but did not receive a reply. After the assailants had disappeared and left, Police arrived before the men returned a second time. At least 45 people were sent to the hospital.
The attack shocked the locals, and many suspected that the involvement of organized crime groups, the triads, which are active in the villages surrounding Yuen Long neighborhood.
The neighborhood became a ghost town in the instant aftermath: stores were shut across the primary street and the streets were empty. Some local people rented rooms at out of town hotel for a couple of nights.
“Many Yet residents may agree with the demonstrators but choose not to say so, considering how polarising the topic is,” said Fong, a caretaker from the area.
"The protesters are supported by many people in Yuen Long, but they won't say it out loud. There’s a large silent majority," he said.
Fong supported his son who was at the demonstrations. Fong who says he's "extremely upset" with what he believes is the obvious collusion between the police and the triads, is planning to join the march on Saturday.
Posters circulated online before the assault on Sunday, warning people not to come to Yuen Long and set up Lennon Walls – a form of protest inspired by anti-communist activists in 1980s Prague – or else they would "cut" their hands and legs.
The heads of several Hong Kong universities issued a letter asking students not to participate.
Despite the warning, on Tuesday evening commuters had coated the walls, pillars, and railings with pictures of the victims, pictures of the attackers posing with their guns, hundreds of sticky notes, and signs saying "Take Back Yuen Long."
A group of volunteers who heard of the internet wall had come to guard the passers-by posting stuff there.
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