Photo: Screenshot from Reuters report

UK-based news agency Reuters ran a story on Friday pointing out that a Chinese official from the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong was behind the violence that erupted in Yuen Long on Sunday, as some of their reporters found so-called evidence in a video clip showing that the purported Chinese official from the liaison office allegedly urged local residents to drive away activists. 

The report said Li Jiyi, the director of the liaison's local district office made the appeal at a community banquet for hundreds of villagers in Hong Kong's rural New Territories. 

A reporter who also claimed to be one of the byline writers of this story, also shared this footage on his Twitter account, saying that the official was "speaking at a Yuen Long banquet on Jul 11, urging villagers to drive away anti-extradition protesters." 

Some internet users also called it a piece of evidence of Beijing's role in Hong Kong affairs. 

Many other foreign media and media organizations also helped share this report by distorting what Li really said in the video. 

Hong Kong Free Press also said that villagers in Yuen Long had been told by Li at an earlier dinner ceremony not to let protesters enter Yuen Long, citing a Democratic Party councilor.

The Chinese official also chided the protesters, appealing to the assembled residents to protect their towns in Yuen Long district and to chase anti-government activists away, according to the Reuters report. 

Some other Hong Kong media outlets also followed the tone of the Reuters story, claiming that the liaison office "stirred" Yuen Long villagers to force out protesters. 

Even though the liaison office has denied the report, the claim of foreign media targeting the Chinese official has been widely circulated not only on Twitter but also on social media platform of opponents like LIHKG. 

The liaison office strongly condemned the rumors created by foreign media and relevant organizations and will reserve the right to take any legal action, according to the office on Thursday.

What is the truth?

What really did this officer say in the video? The Global Times asked three Cantonese speakers from different occupations to listen to the video; they all said they did not hear any single word about inciting violence and "drive the protesters away" in the video.

In the speech which took place on July 11, after a series of violent incidents made by radical protesters and rioters, the official said in the first part that some people in Hong Kong have no adequate knowledge about the mainland's legal system and harbor misunderstandings, but he believes the people will finally lend themselves to fair judgement. He also stressed the importance of the Basic Law and "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong." 

After this, the official said in the speech that the local villagers in Yuen Long told him that those radical protesters who used bricks and iron rods to storm the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) also threatened to come to Yuen Long, but he believes the villagers don't need to be worried.

He believes the villagers of Yuen Long can protect their homes and won't allow those protesters to come here to "make trouble", and he is also confident  that most Hong Kong people who are patriotic and love Hong Kong will safeguard the city and won't allow those people to do whatever they what.

Fake news

Unfortunately, some foreign media and anti-establishment Hong Kong media outlets are trying to use the language barrier to misinterpret the content of the speech and use it as "evidence" to criticize the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government on stoking violence. This has also angered many web users in mainland and Hong Kong.

"I am getting used to the Western media fake news about China. This is not the first time, nothing surprises me," said one with ID Haikuo Tiankong commenting on WeChat public account.

Some Hong Kong web users said on their Twitter accounts that "Reuters is definitely fake media."

"Western media like Reuters have already lost its neutrality when reporting about the Hong Kong protests. If they insist this official is inciting violence, then the rioters, who stormed the LegCo, defaced the national emblem, attacked police officers and vandalized the grave of a pro-establishment lawmaker, should be labelled terrorists," said another one with ID Honest Brother on Sina Weibo.

Not only Reuters, the New York Times has also lost its neutrality while reporting on the Hong Kong protest. 

For instance, very few Western media outlets reported the violence in Sha Tin on July 14, which saw a police officer's finger bitten off by a  protester.

The New York Times did run a story but said in a report that a cop "gouged" the protester's eye with his finger and hence the grotesque response. The report didn't provide any evidence to prove this, nor did it use any word like "allegedly."