Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam has condemned Monday's violent acts committed by some protesters who stormed the Legislative Council (LegCo) building, saying she hopes that Hong Kong society will return to normal as soon as possible.

Protesters used a roll cage trolley as a ram and iron poles to shatter the glass doors of the LegCo building, which "really saddens a lot of people and shocks a lot of people," Lam said, criticizing "the extreme use of violence and vandalism."

"During the period, we had been under siege of the protesters. They kept on using violent tactics to try to intrude into the LegCo. It was by nine o’clock at night time, several incidents happened that made us do a temporary retreat," said police commissioner Lo Wai-chung.

He told reporters that during the charging protesters threw in some white smokes, and the police had no other choice but to temporarily retreat from the LegCo.

It is not true to say that the government has not responded, Lam added, noting that the HKSAR government announced the suspension of the bill to amend the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance on June 15, if it is the cause of the social tensions.

"The rule of law is exactly what I have been talking about tonight. I hope we all agree that this is something of paramount importance to Hong Kong SAR and will continue to guide the government's reactions and responses to social issues and to demands and aspirations of our people," she stressed at the end of the press conference.

The HKSAR secretary for security, John Lee Ka-chiu, and the commissioner of police, Lo Wai-chung, also said that the actions of violent attackers were in serious violation of law and posed a massive threat to the public. The police must strongly condemn the extraordinary violence manifesting extreme indifference to law and order, and will definitely launch full-scale legal and administrative investigations to follow up.

The Hong Kong police began to clear the roads starting from Monday midnight. Within one hour all radical demonstrators had left. 

The main bus lines near Admiralty were now reopened and returned to normal. For security reasons, the police were stationed in front of the Legislative Council Building and the SAR government headquarters building that was temporarily closed on July 2.

(Cover: Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam (R) and Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu during a press conference in Hong Kong, China, July 2, 2019. /Reuters Photo)