China on Monday said the actions of anti-government protestors in Hong Kong, who vandalised the walls of the Beijing representative’s office and defaced the national emblem, were “absolutely intolerable”, AFP reported.

Thousands of pro-democracy protestors occupied the road outside the representative’s office in Hong Kong on Sunday, and used eggs, projectiles, laser lights and graffiti to deface the building. “These [acts]... have seriously damaged the feelings of all Chinese people including seven million Hong Kong compatriots,” Wang Zhimin, China’s top envoy to Hong Kong, told the media. He asked the police to pursue the protestors.

The protestors demand the right to universal suffrage and the resignation of the city’s governor, Carrie Lam. However, so far, Beijing has not yielded to their demands. Officials and state-owned media have accused the protestors of playing into the hands of foreign countries who seek to harm China.

A spokesperson for the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council condemned the protestors’ behaviour, the People’s Daily reported. “We firmly support the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government in taking all necessary measures in accordance with law to ensure the safety of the central government organs based in Hong Kong, safeguard the rule of law in Hong Kong, and punish the criminals,” he said.

The protests had initially been organised to oppose an extradition bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China. However, the bill was suspended earlier this month.

Unidentified men attack protestors at railway station

Meanwhile, several men in white t-shirts, some armed with clubs, entered the Yuen Long station on Sunday and boarded a train, attacking passengers with pipes, poles and other objects, Reuters reported citing CCTV footage. The unidentified individuals seemed to target passengers who had been at an anti-government march, witnesses said.

Lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, who was injured in the face and had to be hospitalised, said the police ignored his pleas to prevent bloodshed. “They deliberately turned a blind eye to these attacks by triads on regular citizens,” he told Reuters. “I won’t speculate on why they didn’t help immediately.”

Hospital authorities said 45 people were injured in the violence at the railway station, one of whom was in a critical condition. Hong Kong’s Police Chief Stephen Lo said the police could not stop the attacks because manpower had to be diverted elsewhere. “We will pursue at all costs to bring the offenders to justice,” he told reporters.